


Not a Chance, Sunshine

by cinderellaphant



Series: Not a Chance Universe [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien is really bad as social interactions, Adrien stop taking advice from Chloe, Adrien your chat is showing, Adrinette, Alya and Marinette are trolls, Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Chloe Bourgeois' A+ Dating Advice, Chloe is a bitch, Eventual reveal, F/M, I just couldn't help myself, LadyNoir - Freeform, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Marichat, Marinette doesn't really like Adrien, Mouse Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Multimouse, Nino's just along for the ride, Reverse Crush (Miraculous Ladybug), Sunshine Child Protection Squad, but Lila is worse, but he's still a sunshine child, but that's not the point of the fic, ladrien, like really bad, lowkey killed me tho cause I love the umbrella scene, mostly adrinette, one-sided enemies to friends to lovers Adrinette, the umbrella scene never happened, then they're besties, until he gets his act together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:34:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 29
Words: 83,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27118942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinderellaphant/pseuds/cinderellaphant
Summary: "Dude, you've got it bad. Go talk to her.""What? No!" Adrien frantically shook his head. "She hates me!""She doesn't hate you," Nino sighed. "Adrien, you're being ridiculous.""No way, she scares me.""Dude, it's Marinette.""And? You've seen her talk to Chloé, right?"Adrien is head over heels for the clumsy, kind, and feisty girl who sits behind him in class. The problem? She hates his guts. The solution? Some well-timed wingmanning from Alya and Nino. What could possibly go wrong?
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Nino Lahiffe, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe
Series: Not a Chance Universe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2078340
Comments: 246
Kudos: 1001





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a reverse crush au where the umbrella scene never happened. (Which lowkey killed me because I love the umbrella scene lmao). This takes place after the season 3 finale, but preceding episodes didn't necessarily happen, and obviously the love square relationships are all different. Mostly Adrinette, but we got lots of the other sides of the love square in there. 
> 
> I don't normally write multi-chapter stuff, so we'll see how it goes. I'm planning to post pretty regularly, but again, we'll have to see.

“Pound it!” 

“Excellent job today, milady.” Chat Noir smiled down at Ladybug, who grinned back up at him. 

“You didn’t do so bad yourself, kitty.” she answered, flicking his bell. “Thanks for the save, by the way.” 

“No problem. You defeated the supervillain so fast I think we set a new record.”

“ _We_ defeated the supervillain,” she corrected him, frowning. “We’re a team, Chat.”

“The best,” He agreed, and turned away to jump off the roof. 

“Are you leaving already?” Ladybug blurted out. 

“Well, my ring’s beeping,” Chat Noir said hesitantly. “Is something wrong? Do you need me to stay?”

“Oh, no, I just…” 

Chat Noir waited patiently for her to finish. Or maybe not so patiently. He wanted to get back to school before he missed class with Marinette. Not that she ever spoke to him. 

“I just like seeing you, that’s all.” Ladybug finished, steadfastly avoiding his eyes. She took a deep breath and added, “It’s the highlight of my day.”

Chat smiled and stepped toward her, putting his hand on her shoulder. “I like seeing you too, Bug.” He missed the blush that was creeping across her cheeks under her mask. “You’re my best friend.” A steady beeping filled the air. “But now, this cat’s gotta scat. See you!” 

He turned and lept off the roof to make his way back to school with his baton. He didn’t see Ladybug’s pout as he left, or her sigh before she jumped down off the roof. 

“Dude, are you okay?” Nino asked, concerned. He and Adrien were standing on the steps of the school, waiting for Adrien’s bodyguard to pick him up. “Are you even listening?”

“Yeah, she’s amazing” Adrien answered dreamily, staring past him to where Alya and Marinette were looking at something on Alya’s phone.

“What?” Nino turned around and followed his gaze. He gave Adrien a knowing look and threw his arm over his shoulders. “Ah. Yeah, Marinette’s a pretty cool dudette.”

“Physics? When she distracted Miss Mendeliev so Nathanael could sneak around her and get his sketchbook back?” Adrien gushed. “That was genius. And so nice of her.”

Nino raised an eyebrow at him. “How do you know she didn’t actually trip over her own feet? It’s not like it’s unthinkable. This is Marinette we’re talking about.”

“Because it’s totally something she would do!” Adrien argued.

Nino shook his head. “Dude, you’ve got it bad. Obsessing over her isn’t going to get her to date you. Go talk to her.”

“What? No!” Adrien shook his head frantically and tried to hide behind Nino. There was no way he could talk to Marinette. “She hates me!”

“She doesn’t hate you,” Nino sighed. “Adrien, you’re being ridiculous.”

“You’re right. I can’t hide behind you. I’m taller than you.”

“Dude, you wish. I’m totally taller.”

“That’s not what Alya said-”

“Don’t try to change the subject,” Nino interrupted, (although Nino was totally taller than Adrien, no matter what everyone else said). “Marinette’s really nice, you said so yourself. Just go talk to her. Be yourself. You can apologize or whatever.”

“No way, she scares me.” Adrien said. He looked down the street and checked his phone. No sign of his bodyguard. 

“Dude. It’s Marinette.”

“And? You’ve seen her talk to Chloé, right?”

Nino’s phone buzzed. He glanced at it. “Epic. Miss Bustier’s not in school again. We don’t have class after lunch.” 

Adrien checked his phone as it buzzed, and saw a similar message from Chloé, though it was worded a lot less nice and was also telling him to have lunch with her.

“This is your chance, dude! Go talk to her. I’m not taking no for an answer this time. I’m not even going to make you ask her out. And I’ll go with you. I’ve totally got your back, bro.”

“But-”

“Unless you want Lila all over you during our free period?” Nino smirked. 

“No!” Adrien took a deep breath. “Alright, I got this. I got this.”

“Yeah you do.” Nino smiled encouragingly. “You’re Adrien Agreste.”

“Adrien Agreste,” Adrien repeated uncertainly. 

“The super hot, super suave, ultra-charming supermodel that’s going to go sweep Marinette off her feet!” Nino finished.

“Yeah!” Adrien squared his shoulders toward where Marinette and Alya were, oblivious to Adrien and Nino’s conversation. 

“Now go, dude!” Nino cheered, and prodded him in the back. 

Adrien was about to chicken out and turn around (maybe his bodyguard had finally arrived?) when Alya saw him. Too late now. 

“Hey Adrien! What’s up?”

“Oh, not much. Did you see that we don’t have class after lunch?” he replied, not taking his eyes off Marinette. Her own eyes were fixed on Alya’s phone, swiping through something. The Ladyblog, maybe? She didn’t react at all, but Alya answered him cheerfully.

“Yeah! We’re going to Marinette’s to set up for her fashion shoot tomorrow. She’s so talented, she needs good quality pictures for her new website.”

Marinette’s mouth twitched slightly. Adrien wondered whether she was trying to hide her pleasure at being bragged about or her displeasure at Alya spilling the beans to Adrien. 

“A fashion shoot, huh? I definitely know my way around those.” Marinette definitely frowned this time and he hastily switched tactics. “I remember the hat you made for my father’s contest, it was awesome. I’d love to see more of your work, Marinette.” 

Marinette finally looked up at him. “Thanks,” she said softly. He could have lost himself in her eyes, but Nino tapped his shoulder.

“Your bodyguard’s here dude. He looks impatient.” 

Adrien sighed. “He kept me waiting first,” he complained as he and Nino left the girls and walked toward his car. “And did you hear that, Nino? Marinette’s doing a fashion shoot! I wonder if she’s modeling the clothes herself.” 

“Marinette doesn’t model her own clothes. She wears them, but doesn’t model them.”

Adrien called Nino as he got into the car and his bodyguard pulled away from the curb. It was a habit they’d picked up, with Adrien not usually being allowed to linger and talk to his friends. It was so natural, it didn’t even interrupt their conversations anymore. Nino picked up right where he left off. 

“She also makes men’s and women’s clothes, so she couldn’t model both, anyway. I think Juleka modeled for her last time.” 

“I’d love to model for her.” Adrien sighed. It would be a fun photoshoot, for once, if he was doing it with friends. “There’s no way she’d let me, though.”

“Alya might.”

“Alya? They’re Marinette’s designs, aren’t they?”

“But Alya’s totally running the shoot. It was her idea to do a website for Marinette to get commissions. I’m going to call her. See you tomorrow, Adrien. And good job. You talked to Marinette without accidentally insulting her. This is progress.”  
\---

Marinette stared down at her phone. She blinked and checked the message again to be sure she hadn’t read it wrong. “Alya?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did my parents just text me saying that Adrien and Nino are headed up to my room?”

“Oh! I forgot to tell you.” Alya turned from where she was setting up the screen for Juleka to change behind. “I invited them. You know Nino’s good with a camera, and Adrien knows his way around a fashion shoot. They’ll be lots of help, especially since the other girls can’t help today.”

“But Alya,” Marinette whispered desperately, clutching her friend’s arm. “You know how I feel about-”

There was a quick knock at the trapdoor, and Nino poked his head through. “Hey there, dudettes! Cool room, Marinette. I don’t think I’ve ever been in here before.” He climbed up and beckoned to someone below. A blond head eagerly poked up and looked around before climbing up after Nino.

“Awesome! We’re all here! Let’s get started.” Alya said enthusiastically. 

With a scowl, Marinette busied herself with picking out jewelry for Juleka while Alya and Nino set up the camera and Juleka got ready. Adrien stood to the side and made the occasional comments about lighting and suggestions for accessories. Marinette didn’t really know why Alya had invited the boys. Couldn’t she spend time with her boyfriend another time, when they weren’t working on something important? And Alya knew how Marinette felt about Adrien. She didn’t really want the guy who put gum on her seat and made a habit of watching as Chloé said mean things about other people to be here.

Okay, maybe Marinette was being dramatic. Adrien was tolerable, which was more than she could say about Chloé. But she was at a loss as to why Alya would let a friend of Chloé anywhere near their photoshoot, no matter how much experience he had.

Until halfway through the shoot, when she saw Nino and Alya exchange looks, and Alya ever so casually said, “Marinette, didn’t you have another version of this outfit made?”

“You mean for the men’s line? Yeah, I finished it last week. Why?” Marinette responded suspiciously. Alya had never shown interest in the clothing she made for guys. “Men’s line” was kind of a stretch, actually. She mostly did men’s clothing for practice. She hardly ever ended up using the clothes, so why make them? “I think this suit fits Juleka fine.” 

“Oh yeah, Juleka looks great.” Alya said quickly. “That’s not what I meant. It’s just, we have pictures of Juleka modeling the women’s clothes, but what about the men’s?” Her eyes flickered over to where Adrien was following the conversation closely.

Marinette narrowed her eyes at Alya. She knew where she was going with this, and she didn’t like it one bit. “You know I only make the men’s for practice, Alya.” She said carefully. She didn’t know how long Alya had been planning this, or how much she was going to push. 

“But it’d look good if you had both on your website, wouldn’t it?” Alya pressed. She was meeting Marinette’s unflinching gaze with one of her own.

“I’m not going to make Juleka model men’s clothes.” Marinette retorted. Juleka mumbled something unintelligible. Marinette decided to take it as affirmation. “See?” She kept her gaze on Alya, trying to tell her through sheer will power that no, absolutely not, don’t even think about suggesting that -

“I could model for you, if you want?” Adrien suggested hopefully. Marinette looked at him, and he gave her a cheeky smile. “My personality isn’t the only thing that sparkles,”

Nino looked like he’d rather stay out of the Marinette/Alya showdown, but, ever the supportive friend, he added, “Adrien models for his pop, remember? He’d be great at it.”

“Yep, Daddy’s boy coming to the rescue again,” Marinette muttered under her breath. She crossed her arms. “How do you know anything I made would fit him? Let’s just keep shooting. We need to finish before we lose the good light.” She turned to face Juleka, who seemed to have shrunken in on herself, watching the confrontation. “Let’s try this outfit with the blue earrings.” She went to go get them, rummaging through the box on her desk.

“Here, Adrien. Try this on in the bathroom and see if it fits.” 

Marinette turned just in time to see Adrien disappear down the stairs, with Nino following close behind. “Alya!”

“What? Might as well see? If it doesn’t fit, no problem then, right? And if it does fit, you’ll be plus one model. And a professional one, too.”

“Juleka,” Marinette hissed at her best friend, “is doing great. I don’t want another model. I don’t need another model.” 

Alya looked at her, and it finally seemed to click with her best friend. “All right,” Alya finally conceded. “I’m sorry, I just… No, no excuses. Sorry.”

“Good.” Marinette said. “And now we can finally...where’d Juleka go?”

“She must have left.” Alya said, peeking down through the open trapdoor and frowning. “Maybe she...went to help Adrien?” 

A scream and a responding cackle suddenly sounded from the street outside. Marinette ran to the window to see Reflekta overturning a parked car. 

“Oh, no, it’s Juleka,” Alya breathed from her place beside Marinette. Her face scrunched up. “I never should have listened to… Oh man, I really went too far this time. I shouldn’t have pushed you so much, Marinette. I wasn’t thinking.”

“I don’t think I’m the one you need to apologize to, Alya.” Marinette responded, peeking over at Tikki, who was hiding behind her sewing machine. 

Alya sighed. “You’re right. I’m going to go find the boys.” She ran off.

“And I,” Marinette said to Tikki, “am going to go make sure Alya has that chance to apologize. That girl, I swear.” Marinette shook her head. “Tikki, spots on!”

Ladybug leapt off her balcony and swung around to land in front of the bakery. She opened the door and ran through the mostly empty front to the back room, where several Reflekta clones were hiding underneath the worktables. Glass from a broken window littered the floor, and several bags of flour had been overturned.

“Ladybug!”

“It’s Ladybug!”

“Did anyone see where the supervillain went?” Ladybug asked urgently, helping one of the clones up from the ground. The question was immediately answered, though, as more evil laughter sounded from directly outside. Ladybug shuddered. It was weird to hear the quiet girl’s voice sounding so loud and gleeful.

“Duck!” a familiar voice yelled from the doorway, and Ladybug threw herself to the ground. A stray beam passed over her head from the broken window, hitting the wall behind her. 

“Thanks,” Ladybug said, turning to see...Adrien, wearing the clothes she had designed. She couldn’t quite decipher the expression on his face.

“No problem, Ladybug,” he answered, but Ladybug was already heading toward the window.

“Don’t worry, everyone,” Ladybug said, throwing her yoyo. “Stay inside, and Chat Noir and I will-”

“ADRIEN AGRESTE! WHERE ARE YOU HIDING?”

Ladybug blinked. With a flick of her wrist, she returned the yoyo to her hand and turned to face Adrien, who was...yep, he was definitely looking guilty. Good, Ladybug thought spitefully, then reminded herself to keep it professional as she walked over to stand in front of him. 

“Change of plans,” she said cheerfully, and hoisted him over her shoulder, enjoying his yelp of surprise before she ran out the door and took to the rooftops.

\---

Adrien clung to Ladybug desperately as she swung them through Paris. Once Ladybug had gotten them above ground level, she had taken pity on him and switched to carrying him bridal style. He trusted Ladybug with his life, but flying over rooftops was considerably less nerve racking when he was doing it on his own accord and he had a magic suit to protect him. 

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I feel like I see you near supervillains a lot.” Ladybug interrupted his thoughts as she set him down gently on a rooftop a ways away from the bakery and gave him a piercing look.

Adrien sighed. “I feel bad. It’s my fault Juleka was akumatized again. I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry for causing so much trouble.” 

Ladybug’s expression softened, and she put a hand on his shoulder. “Well, I’m glad you're taking responsibility. It’s never too late to make things right.” 

Adrien nodded at his partner. How did she always know the right thing to say? “I know, Ladybug. Thank you.”

She nodded at him and left, swinging back toward the bakery. 

Plagg flew out from Adrien’s pocket. “That was close, kid.”

“Don’t worry Plagg. Ladybug’s not going to be finding out this cat’s identity anytime soon. Plagg, claws out!”

The superheros defeated Reflekta almost as fast as they had defeated the last supervillain. Chat Noir was proud of him and his lady. They really were an unbeatable duo. Ever since Ladybug had literally fallen out of the sky, they had only gotten closer, and needed less and less words to communicate. They knew each other better than anyone else, no real names or maskless faces needed. Chat Noir cherished their relationship more than anything. 

That being said, even after everyone apologized to Juleka, got back into their normal clothes, and helped clean up Marinette’s room…

“I’m sorry the modeling for Marinette thing didn’t work out, dude.” Nino said quietly, zipping up his bag and moving toward the trapdoor.

“It’s alright, Nino. Thanks for trying.” Adrien said, not looking at him as he left. He didn’t want Nino to feel guilty for what happened. It was Adrien’s fault Juleka got akumatized, for wanting to model. He just wished he hadn’t messed up so badly.

“You know,” Alya said from his other side. She looked around quickly to make sure everyone else really had left the room, then said quietly, “You should leave something of yours here, in Marinette’s room. Then you’ll have a chance to talk to her when she returns it.”

Adrien’s face lit up. “That’s an awesome idea, Alya. Thanks!”

Alya just winked and followed Nino downstairs. Adrien thought for a moment, then took his history textbook out of his bag (careful not to disturb Plagg, who was sleeping at the bottom) and left it on Marinette’s chaise lounge. He took one last look around Marinette’s room (Marinette’s room!) before leaving, hoping that he’d have better luck if he ever got to come here again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe Adrien isn't the type for convoluted plans to ask someone out, but Alya loves them, and if Marinette doesn't like Adrien much...how else is he going to do it?
> 
> Also, in this fic, Ladybug flirts with Chat Noir but is mostly professional, and Chat Noir thinks she's joking, like how in canon Ladybug thought Chat Noir was joke-flirting with her at first. Ladybug doesn't really correct him because even though she loves him she still thinks keeping their identities secret is important and a superhero relationship would be inappropriate.
> 
> Comment and constructive criticism is appreciated! Let me know what you think! And please tell me if there are any inconsistencies or mistakes, I don't have a beta.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found a few mistakes in the last chapter, those should be fixed now unless I missed some. Thank you for your feedback! Have another chapter!

Adrien fidgeted nervously in his seat as he waited for class to start. It looked like Marinette was going to be late to school again, per usual, and Nino was sitting in her seat so he could chat with Alya until she arrived. He turned around to face the couple behind him. “Hey, Alya?”

“Hmm?”

“Has Marinette mentioned finding something of mine in her room?”

Alya looked over, brow furrowed. “She hasn’t returned it yet?”

“Nope. Nothing. And…” Adrien winced, embarrassed. “I kind of need it back.” 

“I wouldn’t worry about it. She can be kind of a spaz, but she’ll definitely return it. She probably just keeps forgetting.” after a pause, she asked curiously, “What did you leave?” 

“My history textbook.” 

Alya laughed. “Well, that explains it. You couldn’t have left something else?”

“I couldn’t think of anything!” Adrien said indignantly.

“Your jacket?” Nino suggested, mouth twitching.

“Your phone?” Alya said at almost the same time.

“Or even your bag,” Nino added.

Adrien frowned. “Why can I leave my bag and not my textbook?”

Nino and Alya exchanged glances. “She hasn’t returned it yet because she hasn’t recognized it,” Alya explained.

“She probably thinks it's her textbook she keeps forgetting to bring to school,” Nino added.

“Oh,” Adrien said. “Well, shoot.” 

The door banged open and Marinette flew across the room, panting as she stopped next to her seat, hands on her knees to catch her breath.

“‘Sup Marinette,” Nino greeted, relinquishing her seat and going to sit next to Adrien.

“Not late,” she gasped with her hands on her knees.

“Not today, you aren’t,” Alya teased as Marinette sat down. “But, did you remember your textbook today?”

Marinette sat bolt upright. “Oh no! Ugh,” She leaned forward to bang her head on the desk. “I knew I forgot something.” She muttered, voice muffled. 

Adrien smiled fondly. She was so cute. 

Nino nudged Adrien. Adrien looked over, confused. Nino tilted his head meaningfully towards Marinette. 

_Oh._ Adrien cleared his throat and said, “You know, I haven’t been able to find my textbook for a few days. I wonder where it could have gone?” Alya nodded approvingly and shot him a thumbs up out of Marinette’s line of sight as Ms Bustier clapped for everyone’s attention.

Halfway through class, Nino discreetly slid his tablet closer to Adrien. 

_Your pops letting you see that movie?_

After a quick glance at Ms. Bustier, Adrien wrote on his own tablet and tilted it so Nino could see. 

_Dunno. Haven’t gotten a chance to ask yet._

Nino quickly responded.

_Ur still planning to go right?_

Adrien nodded at Nino, who turned and nodded at Alya. Nino then began to frantically scribble on his tablet. Adrien tried to pay attention to the lesson, but was curious as to what Nino and Alya were plotting this time. He hoped it would turn out better than the last two schemes. 

_Ok so Alya and I thought if you wanted to you could ask Marinette to go with you to see that movie. I mean, if you want to see it alone that’s totally fine, but we’ll plan it so you run into Marinette on your way to the theatre and you can walk together. Alya will cancel on Marinette last minute, then you guys can see the movie together._

Adrien gave him a skeptical glance. With a quiet huff, Nino added:

_It’s really going to work this time. Unless you were planning to just up and ask her?_

Nino gave Adrien a questioning look. Adrien shook his head, chastened. 

_That’s what I thought._

But of course things didn’t go according to plan. They never did. 

\---

 _Ouch._ Marinette rubbed her forehead, which had banged into someone’s chin a second earlier, and looked up. 

“Marinette!” Adrien said. “You live near here, right? Can I hide out at your place?” He clasped his hands together pleadingly.

“What? My place?” Marinette said, confused. That was an odd request. “Why?”

“ADRIEN!”

Adrien winced. “Too late.”

Marinette looked over Adrien’s shoulder and saw about fifty people charging toward them, screaming Adrien’s name. The man leading, who had yelled, was carrying an actual Adrien cardboard cutout. 

“This way,” Marinette said urgently, and before she could think it through, she ran towards the park with Adrien in tow. She jumped into the (thankfully empty) fountain and dropped to lay on the concrete, curled up on her side. Adrien followed suit, getting down right before the first person entered the park. Marinette squeezed her eyes shut as the crowd ran past. She breathed a sigh of relief as the noise faded. 

“Thanks for saving me.” Adrien said. 

Marinette opened her eyes to look at him and was surprised at his proximity. They were really close together.

“I starred in an ad,” Adrien bragged, “and people are going crazy over it. If I knew this was what would happen, I wouldn’t have done it. I guess I just can’t help that everyone loves me.”

Marinette sighed in annoyance. Like she didn’t see Adrien signing autographs at school every morning with Chloé hanging off his arm.“An ad?”

“Yeah, for men’s perfume.”

Marinette snorted and sat up, brushing the dirt off her tank top. She really needed to get home and change. “No offense, but that sounds embarrassing.”

Adrien sat up too and raised an eyebrow at her. “You’re one to talk,” he said, his eyes sweeping over her pajama-clad body before he blushed and looked away.

Marinette scowled at him and with a huff, stood up to leave before she could overthink that. “Whatever. I’m not the one with half of Paris after me, so I’m going to-”

“Get down!” Adrien said suddenly, grabbing her hand and yanking her down. She crashed into him, but quickly righted herself so she was crouching next to Adrien, who was still clutching her arm. She frowned at him. He didn’t apologize, just looked over her shoulder.

Marinette followed his gaze. “Is that your...bodyguard?” 

“I’m out without permission.” Adrien explained, keeping Marinette between himself and the car that was slowly driving past the park. “I’m not actually supposed to be out of the house today. I snuck out.” he said, his face a mix between sheepishness and pride.

“No wonder there’s hordes of fans chasing after you. You’re a full on bad boy, Agreste,” Marinette said sarcastically. She was done. She was going home. She had had enough of hiding in a public fountain in her pajamas. 

_Click._ “Adrien Agreste and his girlfriend in a fountain in the park!” A man behind them said enthusiastically. 

“ADRIEN!”

Marinette actually growled as she picked herself up off the subway floor, ignoring Adrien’s outstretched hand. Seriously? How did she get dragged into this, again?

“Are you okay?” Adrien asked her.

“Do you think I’m okay? All I wanted to do was go to the movies with my best friend, and instead I just got tackled into a subway to avoid a horde of screaming fans who are chasing us around Paris, and oh yeah, now it’s posted on social media that I’m your girlfriend.” When she said it out loud, it seemed kind of funny, especially compared to her escapades as Ladybug, but she was pissed. She did not want to be associated with Adrien. “And,” she added. “May I remind you, I am still in my pajamas.”

“Yeah, why is that, actually?” Adrien asked curiously. 

“For your information, I was...distracted, when I was leaving my house.” Marinette said, tilting her chin up. It was true, but Adrien didn’t need to know that she had been obsessing over the new pictures of Chat Noir on the Ladyblog.

“Yes, well, I can be very distracting,” Adrien said, leaning into her space and winking.

Marinette pushed him away. There was an awkward pause as Marinette glared at him. 

“Well, anyway,” Adrien started, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m sorry I got you into this mess. I know this was not how you wanted to spend your day.”

“You should be,” Marinette retorted, pulling out her phone. “I need to text Alya that I’m going to be - oh, looks like she cancelled on me.” 

“You could come to the movies with me,” Adrien suggested.

“No thanks,” Marinette said without missing a beat.

Adrien gasped. “You wound me. You don’t want to go to a movie with the hottest guy in town? Rub it in the faces of those diehard fans of mine?”

“Nope.”

“How do you know it wouldn’t make getting chased around Paris worth it?”

“Pretty sure it wouldn’t. Although,” Marinette sighed. “I guess this situation isn’t really your fault. It will at least make an interesting story later.”

“You know-” Adrien started, with a grin.

Marinette gave him a flat look. “Don’t push your luck, Sunshine.”

“Yes ma’am,” Adrien said seriously.

Marinette rolled her eyes.

“Why are we running from your bodyguard, again?” Marinette asked later, after they had made it to the movie theatre. Of course she had gotten roped into seeing a movie with Adrien anyway. “I mean, isn’t it his job to prevent this exact situation?”

“I guess,” Adrien said. He was wearing a discarded motorcycle helmet Marinette had found, to keep people from recognizing him. “But he wouldn’t let me come see this movie.”

“You’re not allowed to go to the movies?” Marinette said incredulously. That was just sad. Marinette had assumed spoiled rich kids like Chloé and Adrien would be allowed to do anything.

“Life of a famous supermodel with an overprotective father. Pretty tragic, actually.”

“It’s tragic how full of yourself you are,” Marinette muttered, too quiet for Adrien to hear.

“I mean, I can sometimes go to the movies. With my bodyguard or Nathalie. But my father didn’t want me to see this particular movie.” Adrien turned to look at the screen, playing a trailer for a movie coming out next month. “It’s only playing today, at this theatre, so this is the only chance I’ll get to see it.” He saw Marinette questioning look and added, “You see, my mother played the leading role.”

 _Oh._ Marinette thought as she, too, tuned to look at the screen just in time for a cologne ad to start. And suddenly, Adrien’s face filled the screen. Marinette’s eyebrows crept slowly up her forehead as she stared. 

_“Radiant. Carefree. Dreamy. Adrien, the fragrance.”_

Marinette clapped a hand to her mouth, but it was too late to stop the giggles. “Pffft.”

Adrien looked over at her. “What?” 

The look on Adrien’s face sent her into full on laughter, unsuccessfully muffled by her hand. The offended look on Adrien’s face was too much. They were getting strange looks from other people in the theatre, especially once they noticed Adrien’s helmet.

 _“What?”_ Adrien repeated. “Are you laughing at my ad?”

Marinette snorted. “Radiant. Carefree.” She fought to bite back more laughter. “Dreamy.”

Adrien’s face flushed, and Marinette laughed harder. “I don’t see what’s so funny.”

“Of course you wouldn’t.” Marinette told him. He just looked...so _enthusiastic_. And the voiceover was such overkill. “Adrien: The fragrance,” she said dramatically to herself, fighting back a grin and leftover chuckles. 

Adrien scowled. “I don’t get it,” he muttered.

\---

Alya reread the text again. “This sounds casual enough, right?” she asked Nino, showing the draft on her phone. Nino hummed and Alya hit send. 

“And now, we wait.” said Nino, leaning back on the bench and putting his arm around Alya. The two were enjoying a nice, casual date in the park while monitoring Adrien’s from a distance. Not that they’d have to do much. Alya’s hangout with Marinette was cancelled, and now all Adrien had to do was be cool about it. Which, when she thought about it, was actually leaving a lot up to chance. 

“You think Adrien’s going to be able to pull it off?” Alya asked. 

Nino shrugged. “Who knows?” After a pause he said, “I don’t get it, babe. One minute he’s nicest guy I know, then Marinette show up and he’s...:”

Alya cringed. “An oblivious prick?”

“Exactly.” 

Alya ran a hand through her hair, considering. “Well, he grew up always having to put on appearances, didn’t he? It seems to me that no matter how good he is at everything he does, he’s never good enough for his father.”

Nino frowned. “The bastard,” he muttered.

“I know,” Alya agreed. “So, I mean, if his father is always telling him he’s not good enough, he’s not going to think that just being himself is enough for Marinette.”

Nino gave her an impressed look. “How do you know this stuff?” he asked.

Alya settled back and put her head on Nino’s shoulder. “It’s a talent of mine.”

Nino’s phone buzzed, and he pulled it out to glance at it. 

“Ha! Look at this, Alya.” 

Alya leaned over to see. “Adrien’s _girlfriend_?” she said incredulously. She and Nino looked at each other, then burst out laughing. “Adrien’s going to love that! Marinette’ll be pissed though.” Another post popped up, and Alya hummed in thought. “This is kind of pathetic, actually.” she mused.

“Social media stalking our friends while we’re on a date?”

“No. I mean yes, but not that. I mean, things like this will happen, but these not-dates aren’t going to do anything except get Adrien excited for a while before he goes back to trying to woo Marinette with pick-up lines.” 

Nino nodded slowly. “I guess the better thing.. would be if Adrien could just be himself around Marinette. He needs to stop trying to be what she thinks she wants.”

“Brush up on social cues, and let himself be the sunshine child that he is.” Alya agreed.

Nino looked at Alya out of the corner of his eye. “Operation: Sunshine Child?”

“Operation: Sunshine Child.” Alya agreed. 

“Oh, look at this one!” Nino said, showing her his phone screen as yet another social media post showed up featuring Adrien and Marinette. 

Alya cackled. “We aren’t totally giving up on these plots to get them together, right?” she checked. “‘Cause this is hilarious.”

\---

Marinette stood up from her seat in the movie theatre and shuffled closer until she was right next to Adrien’s legs. 

Adrien looked up at her. She looked back expectantly. There was an awkward silence. What was she doing?”

“What?” Adrien finally asked.

“Can you let me out, please? I’m trying to get through.” 

“Where are you going? The movie’s about to start.” Why didn’t she just say that? 

“I’m leaving. As enjoyable as your company has been,” Marinette said, a hint of annoyance creeping into her voice, “I’ve got things to do.”

“You can’t go!” Adrien said desperately. Quick, Agreste, think of something. “They’ll catch me in, like, two seconds without you.”

Marinette’s face didn’t change. “No one knows you’re here. Can you _move_?”

Okay, flattery didn’t work. Change of tactics. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay?” Adrien asked, meeting her narrowed eyes. Behind her pajama-clad form he could see the movie starting, and he could hear some grumbles that Marinette was blocking the screen. “It’s the first time I’ve been to the movies with a friend.” He added, looking up at Marinette hopefully.

She seemed to waver, and Adrien thought that just maybe, the guilt factor had worked. But before Marinette could say anything, the ceiling exploded. People screamed, and as chunks of debris rained down around them, a huge hand reached down and snatched Adrien right from his seat.

“Are you...my bodyguard?” Adrien said in astonishment. “Screw you, Hawkmoth,” Adrien muttered as the newest supervillain took off with him, running across town to who knows where. He hoped Ladybug showed up soon because there was no way he could transform now.

Five minutes later he was swinging once again through Paris as Adrien, clinging desperately to Ladybug.

“You again?” She said incredulously as soon as she set him down.

Adrien could only shrug and give her an apologetic wave before they were off again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment and let me know what you think! 
> 
> Don’t get me wrong, I love Adrien. But some of the tactics he uses in the show to get Ladybug to like him are a bit underhanded. I mean, trying to make her jealous?


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes are kind of long this time, but please read.
> 
> Thank you so much for all of your feedback! It’s super helpful, because now I know what parts y’all are interested in and what you are confused about. The result: a chapter with a lot of psychoanalyzing characters. I hope this helps with some of the questions about why Marinette and Adrien are acting the way they are. 
> 
> When I first got the idea for this fic, in my head I was redoing the episodes of the show with this new dynamic, but ultimately I wanted to write new stuff rather than rewriting episodes everyone has already seen, so I settled on setting it after the season 3 finale, and just time swapped episodes so different events (like Gorizilla in the last chapter) happen after miracle queen. I’m going to be doing a lot more of that, and I’ll probably write some flashbacks of what happened in the more important episodes (definitely Origins and Volpina, maybe some others too). I’ll make it very clear if the chapter or part of a chapter is a flashback. If I don’t say so, it happens in chronological order with the fic. I can see how this is confusing, and I’m sorry for that. Again, this is my first multi-chapter fic and I’m doing my best.
> 
> Context! This chapter happens the day after the last chapter. As a lot of you point out, some episodes wouldn’t have happened if Marinette wasn’t lowkey (totally) obsessed with Adrien. And you’re right! Ladybug hasn’t happened in this fic (yet), among others. Chameleon happened without any interaction between Marinette and Adrien. In this au, Lila initiates the hostility between her and Marinette because she’s jealous that Adrien likes her and Marinette has no idea. Marinette knows she is a liar because Lila lied about Ladybug. This is all going to be in the flashback chapter of Volpina, but to avoid context confusion I’m laying it out right now.

Marinette stared at the worksheet Ms Mendeliev had given out earlier, chin in her hand, but her mind was far from the physics homework. Yesterday had been really weird, but after defeating the akuma, she had finally gotten home to change into normal clothes. Alya was over in less than five minutes and demanded to know everything. She was referring to the social media posts she’d seen of her and Adrien, but Marinette wished she could tell her instead about getting to see Chat, if only for a few minutes, and the adorable and dorky way he’d said smugly, “This is Chat Noir express deliveries, did you order a giant beast, m’lady?” Lord, she loved that boy, but Alya still thought it was a celebrity crush gone a bit out of hand, and it’s not like Marinette could tell her any different. 

Speaking of which…

“Where is Alya? Lunch is almost over.” Marinette wondered, looking around the cafeteria. 

“My guess is with Nino,” Tikki suggested, poking her head up from Marinette’s purse. Marinette shifted so her bag was between her legs, hopefully shielding Tikki from view. 

“Well, obviously. Normally they tell me, though, if they’re going to have lunch alone.” Marinette shook her head. “I’m happy to give them their space, but maybe we should draw up a schedule. I could have gone home for lunch if I’d known I was going to get stood up.”

“I’m sure they’re just distracted,” Tikki said, ducking back down into the bag. “You know how they are.” 

“Hmm, distracted. Is that what they’re calling it these days?” Marinette muttered. She heard a high-pitched giggle from inside her purse.

Marinette was contemplating ways to get Nino to share Alya with her when a shadow fell over her paper. A depressingly familiar voice said cheerfully, “Hi, Marinette!”

Marinette looked up, startled. Ever since Lila had threatened to turn her friends against her, she hadn’t spoken to Marinette much, settling for giving her a death glare whenever Marinette bothered to ask for evidence of her various claims. So far, her threat hadn’t held much weight. The other classmates practically worshipped Lila, but were still as good friends with Marinette as ever. 

“Hi,” Marinette answered suspiciously. 

Lila plopped down in the seat Alya normally sat in and propped her elbows up on the table, leaning forward. “How are you? I haven’t talked to you in a while.”

 _You mean hardly ever,_ Marinette thought, but if that was how Lila was going to play it, then so be it. “Pretty good,” she said instead, noticing that Lila was subtly leaning forward and trying to sneak a peek at the paper still sitting in front of Marinette. _The snoop,_ Marinette thought. “Don’t really want to do the physics homework,” Marinette said slyly, raising an eyebrow at Lila and enjoying the disappointed look on Lila’s face that it wasn’t something embarrassing. “How are you?”

“Oh, I’m doing great!” Lila said, still using that fake-cheerful voice. “A little tired, I was really busy yesterday doing charity work.” Lila looked Marinette right in the eye, as if she was daring her to say anything. Marinette didn’t know why she even bothered, there was no one else around to fawn over her.

“That’s nice.” Marinette said, then took a bite of her sandwich. _Just get to the point, already, Lila._

“Yep. Although, you seemed to have a busy day yesterday, too.” Lila looked like she was trying to read Marinette's expression.

For a brief moment, Marinette thought that maybe Lila was alluding to her secret identity. “I did?” she asked, mind frantically searching for a good excuse. There’s no way Lila could know, right? She would have been outed immediately. Lila hated Ladybug.

“With Adrien,” Lila clarified, and Marinette breathed a sigh of relief, though she was still confused. 

“Yeah, we ran into each other yesterday, accidentally. What, were you following us?” She thought it likely, considering how much Lila clung to Adrien during the school day.

“No, actually, it was all over social media yesterday.” Oh right, the social media posts. Marinette was pretty sure she had blocked the traumatic experience of having pictures posted of her in her pajamas declaring her to be Adrien’s girlfriend out of her head. _Oh, Adrien’s girlfriend. That’s why Lila’s over here. Well, now I know how to get her to go away._

“Yeah, can you imagine? That was crazy. And they all say I’m Adrien’s girlfriend of all things. Like, seriously? Me and Adrien? No way is that happening.” Maybe she was laying it on a bit thick, but Marinette really wanted Lila to scram. 

“Imagine that,” Lila replied, shoulders tensing. She then straightened up and said. “As if Adrien would like you.” 

Marinette blinked in surprise. That wasn’t what she had meant at all.

“And it’s a good thing, too,” Lila continued, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear and giving Marinette a decidedly fake smile. “I mean, it would have been really bad for you if he did. So many girls’ hearts, broken.” 

Marinette couldn’t help herself. “Including yours?” she said sweetly, smiling at her.

Lila’s face darkened and she stood up. “You’d better watch yourself, Marinette. I’d hate for you to make… friends… with the wrong person. You might just find yourself with no friends at all.” The bell rang, and Lila turned, ponytail swinging as she left.

Marinette stared after her. Tikki popped her head up out of Marinette’s purse again, still half-hidden under the table. After a moment, Marinette got up, collected her things, and left the cafeteria. “What...was that?”

“Sounds like Lila’s feeling threatened again” Tikki observed, looking up at Marinette as they pushed through a door. She must be late again, no one else was in the locker room.

“Threatened? What does she think I’m going to do? I haven’t said anything recently… unless she thinks I’m going to tell Adrien that she’s a big fat liar.” Marinette didn’t see the way Tikki rolled her eyes at her obliviousness as opened her locker and immediately started to panic. “Oh no! Tikki! What if she’s serious?”

“Calm down, Marinette,” Tikki soothed, patting her leg through the purse. “She hasn’t done anything that drastic yet.”

“That doesn’t mean she won’t! You know how vindictive she can be!” Marinette put her head against the shelf of her locker, not noticing Tikki suddenly dive back into her bag. “And she’s got everyone wrapped around her little finger,” she moaned, shutting the locker door and hoisting her bag higher on her shoulder.

“Who does?” Adrien asked from right behind her.

“W-ahh!” Marinette yelled, whipping around and almost falling over. “Jesus, don’t _do_ that.” 

He didn’t look the least bit sorry, just curious. Marinette wondered if it was worth making friends with him just to spite Lila. 

“Who?” Adrien repeated. 

“Were you hiding behind my locker door?” Marinette demanded, avoiding the question.

He looked at her closely, his green eyes searching her own. “Lila.” He decided. It wasn’t a question. 

Marinette gave in. “Yeah, Lila,” she admitted. “And I’m not going to let her get away with it.”

“Get away with what?”

Marinette toyed with the idea of actually telling him that Lila had threatened her-he looked a little concerned, at least-but quickly decided against it. He and Lila were pretty chummy. Chances were, he wouldn’t believe her anyway. It wasn’t like they had ever spoken much before. Why should he take her word over Lila’s?

“Lying, of course.” She turned to go to class.

“Wait!” Adrien grabbed her arm, and she turned to look back at him curiously. “You’re going to tell everyone?”

“Well, yeah.” Marinette responded. “She’s-”

“A liar. I know. But, don’t you think that exposing her in front of everyone will just...humiliate her? How is it going to make things better?”

Marinette turned to face him fully and crossed her arms. She hadn’t known that Adrien knew Lila was lying. About Ladybug, maybe, but not about everything. “People need to know that she isn’t telling the truth.” 

“Marinette, exposing Lila isn’t going to make her a good person.” Adrien said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Marinette felt her face flush as her temper flared. “How would _you_ know?” She snapped, stepping away from him. Adrien’s arm fell back down to his side. “I’m not going to let her manipulate my friends like this.” 

Adrien’s brow creased. “It’s not hurting anyone, is it? Can’t you just… ask her to stop?”

“Oh my god, you don’t even see what’s happening. People like her don’t just stop. No matter what happens, people are going to end up hurt.” Marinette wasn’t really sure what she was going to do, but she knew she was right. It was just a matter of whether it was worth risking all of her friends. Not that she’d tell Adrien that. “The more we let her get everyone’s expectations up, the worse it’s going to be when it comes out.”

Adrien leaned against the locker behind him. “And what if it never comes out? No harm done, right?”

“If people keep believing her stories,” Marinette said slowly, gritting her teeth, “They’re going to keep carrying her bags for her and doing her homework for her. They’re going to base their dreams and careers on the promises she makes. I’m not going to be the person who just sat back and let that happen to them.”

For a moment, Marinette thought she’d gotten through to him. Then he opened his mouth.

“Well, then, it’s a good thing you have a knight in shining armor,” Adrien said with a smirk. “I’ll protect you.”

Marinette’s mouth fell open. She could not believe this guy’s nerve. He wasn’t even listening. Seething, she stormed away. 

She was indeed late to class, which did not help her mood. Marinette tamed her fury the rest of the day by replaying in her head how Adrien had squirmed yesterday when she decided to use him as bait for Gorizilla. When her phone vibrated with an akuma alert, Marinette was even more eager than usual to make an excuse and get out of class. Taking out her anger on a Hawkmoth and getting to see Chat would definitely improve her mood.

\---

“What was that, kid?” Plagg asked, flying up out of Adrien’s pocket and hovering in front of his Chosen’s face. Adrien had been so excited that he’d gotten to spend the entire afternoon with Marinette yesterday, and spent hours talking about how even though she’d been annoyed the whole time, at least she was speaking to him. Even Plagg had hoped that this was a step forward for them. 

“I don’t know! I don’t remember. I-I don’t know what I was thinking.” Adrien sighed. “I never think, when it comes to Marinette. I just say whatever pops into my head.”

Plagg frowned at him. If Tikki were here, she would offer some words of encouragement or something. Plagg was awful at encouragement. He had no idea what to say. 

“She was talking about, I dunno, people and hurt feelings,” Adrien said. “And I just panicked, Plagg. I’m not used to talking about this stuff, and so I took the first opportunity I could get to say something dumb. And now Marinette’s not talking to me at all.”

Well, that was fishier than moldy cheese. Adrien didn’t have problems talking about his feelings. He practically wore his heart on his sleeve.

“In my opinion, this Lila girl sounds a lot like your father,” Plagg said experimentally, watching Adrien closely. 

“My father? No way,” Adrien said dismissively as he left the locker room and started making his way through the empty halls to class. “My father doesn’t lie to me.”

Plagg decided not to push the issue, as this was his father they were talking about, but Plagg knew that Adrien spent so long doing everything his father asked to gain his approval, and eating up every ounce of attention he gave him. Plagg had seen himself how happy Adrien had been when his father let him watch his mother’s movie, and it broke his little kwami heart that Gabriel would be back to treating him as coldly as always today. He figured that hearing about Lila doing the same thing to the class had hit a little too close to home.

 _Ugh, feelings,_ Plagg thought to himself as he ducked back into Adrien’s bag. He needed camembert to wash those depressing thoughts out of his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! Marinette might have been warming up to Adrien slightly after spending an afternoon with him, but the poor child just crushed those hopes. Aaaand back to square one. Oops.
> 
> You know, I think they might both be a little in the wrong here.
> 
> Also, that scene in Gorizilla when Gabriel’s all like “we can’t keep secrets from one another '' and it pans to the creepy supervillain lair? Like, that’s so hypocritical and manipulative. Gabriel might be redeemable because honorable intentions or whatever, but Adrien needs to realize how emotionally abused he is. Adrien’s obliviousness might be cute, but it’s also hurting him and the people he cares about.
> 
> Okay, I’ve officially decided to write the flashback Volpina chapter next. It’s just too confusing without it, isn’t it? My bad. Lemme know what other episodes you’d be interested in seeing, either as a flashback or incorporated into the story. It’s all planned out, but still flexible as I write it ;)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I know I said the Volpina chapter would be next, but I don’t want to interrupt the flow of the chapters that all happen on the same day, and I think I’ve deprived you of their superhero personas for long enough, so… next chapter, I promise!

Adrien was so angry with himself that he didn’t notice the insistent tapping against his leg for ten minutes. It took a supervillain crashing into the grass outside the window-with Ladybug in hot pursuit-before he realized that Plagg had been trying to get his attention. 

“All right class,” Ms Bustier called as everyone jumped up from their seats and ran to the window to look. “Everyone go home immediately! Stay safe!” Ms. Bustier called.

Adrien ran out of the classroom with the rest of his classmates but slowed down once they were in the hallway to let them pull ahead. 

“Seriously kid? You are really out of it. Your phone went off ten minutes ago.” Plagg said as Adrien sprinted down the mostly empty hall.

“Not now, Plagg,” He panted. There were still people in sight, teachers who had told their students to evacuate. Adrien started down the stairs, hoping there would be a classroom or closet he could duck into.

“You know,” Plagg continued, “if you’re going to be this late, you might as well just stay here and let me eat chee-” 

_Boom._ “You pesky bug! Stay still!” Adrien screeched to a stop at the bottom of the staircase as a wall of the courtyard crumbled and Ladybug was thrown through. Adrien almost cried out, but managed to keep quiet. He needed to transform and help her. 

Luckily, Ladybug rolled to a stop and jumped up quickly, spinning her yoyo to deflect beams of light coming in through the hole in the wall. With each shot there was a whistle, but Adrien couldn’t tell whether the light was causing the music or if it was the other way around. “Why don’t you come and get me?” she taunted.

The supervillain roared in anger and jumped through to the courtyard himself, but Adrien only caught a glimpse of red and yellow before he turned and ran back up the stairs. Maybe he could hide in a closet to transform, or-

 _Boom._ With a particularly low note, the floor underneath Adrien crumbled, and he was falling toward the ground. Adrien braced himself for impact, but heard a familiar whizzing noise, and then a wire wrapped around his ankle and he was hoisted upwards, rocketing into the air. 

Just as quickly as it came, the pressure on his ankle disappeared and Adrien slowed, stopped, then started falling once again toward the ground. 

_Great,_ Adrien thought sarcastically. _I can die falling from an even higher distance. Awesome!_

He let out an “oof” of surprise when a small body collided with his own. The world was spinning around him, strong arms were cradling him, then Ladybug landed in a crouch on the floor above the courtyard, Adrien held in her arms. 

The supervillain started playing again, and Ladybug, using her yoyo to shield them, quickly ushered Adrien toward an empty classroom. 

“I’d tell you to run,” she said, gesturing for Adrien to open the door. “But Piper here blocked most of the exits. Stay here and you’ll be safe. I’ll try to lead him away.” 

Adrien nodded, “Wait, Ladybug!” he said when she turned to go. “Marinette! She went to the bathroom before the announcement to leave, she’s probably still in the school somewhere! You have to find her!”

Ladybug stiffened, then turned back around. “Don’t worry, I’m sure she’s fine. She’s probably hiding. Or left already.” Ladybug looked at him pointedly. 

“Hey, at least it’s not after me this time,” Adrien said defensively. “I was..trying to find Marinette.” 

“Yeah, because she’ll be perfectly safe with _you_ protecting her,” Ladybug muttered to herself.

“What?” Adrien wasn’t sure if he was expected to respond to that, but defended Marinette’s honor anyway. “No, Marinette can take care of herself. I just wanted to make sure she knew about the akuma attack.”

Ladybug flushed a little. Maybe Adrien wasn’t supposed to hear her comment. “I really need to get back,” Ladybug said, glancing over her shoulder. “But I’m sure Marinette’s okay.” she assured Adrien. “Stay out of sight and you’ll be safe, too.” Ladybug took off, closing the door behind her.

“Plagg, claws out!”

\---

 _Where is that cat?_ Ladybug thought to herself as she dodged more beams from the Pied Piper’s horn. She swung her yoyo, trying to snag it-the akuma must be in there-but was forced to drop and roll to avoid more beams. 

“Sorry I’m late,” said a voice from the roof above the courtyard. Ladybug grinned to herself. _There he is._ “I didn’t realize there was a party going on without me.”

“You’re always welcome to the party, kitty,” she responded, jumping up. She intercepted a few beams with her yoyo, then looked up at him. “No matter how late you are.”

Chat Noir dropped down next to the supervillain, swinging his baton “What are you, a jester?” he asked, trying to connect a blow. The Pied Piper was forced to use his horn to defend himself, his distraction letting Ladybug get in closer too. “Did you fail clown school or something?” Chat continued. 

The Pied Piper scowled. “I am no jester! I am the Pied Piper!” he growled, backing up frantically to give himself space from the superheroes.

 _That’s his weakness,_ Ladybug thought triumphantly. _He can’t use his horn if we get in close._ But how to do that? They didn’t have the element of surprise anymore, and if they tried to corner him he’d just blast through more walls.

“That explains the awful music,” Chat taunted, ducking a blow and rushing the supervillain. The Pied Piper roared and jumped, landing on a section of the hallway above that wasn’t destroyed. He began to play his pipe again, and Ladybug and Chat were forced to start dodging again. 

“This way, Chat!” Ladybug called, and ran until she was standing underneath the Piper. Chat Noir followed a second later.

“The Pied Piper, huh?” said Chat Noir. 

“Yeah,” Ladybug said, trying to think. The sounds from the supervillain’s horn were getting quieter. “Mad because his students weren’t listening to him. The beams possess people. Children, at least. I don’t know what they’d do to adults. He mostly ignores them.”

“Possess people?” Chat Noir asked. “Like, zombie possession or competent fighter possession?”

“Zombie. There’s a horde of children outside, trying to get to him, but the Piper blocked the exits.” Ladybug was struck with an idea suddenly, and she motioned to Chat Noir as she left the relative safety of underneath the stairs, and crept out, looking around for the Pied Piper. She didn’t see him, but she hoped he would stay in the school a little longer, looking for kids to possess. 

“At least in the school, we don’t have to worry about fighting brainwashed people,” Chat Noir said, following her. “What are you doing?” he asked as Ladybug wrapped her yoyo around some of the rubble blocking the door. 

“Help me, will you?” she asked. “We’re unblocking the doors.” She yanked on her yoyo string, and some of the debris shifted away from the door. 

Chat didn’t move. “Don’t we want to keep the zombie children _out_?” He asked incredulously.

“I have a plan,” Ladybug assured him. “Can you put that piece of wood in the handles?” she asked, pointing to a broken chair she had cast aside as the door began shuddering with the weight of people outside pushing against it, trying to get in. “We don’t want them in quite yet.”

Chat Noir did as she asked, then followed as Ladybug ran to the other side of the courtyard. They did the same thing on the other side, with Chat Noir helping to shift debris away from the door. 

“Lucky Charm!” 

A spotted box landed in Ladybug’s outstretched arms. “Clay?” She asked, opening it. “Huh. All right, kitty, can you get the Piper back over here? In the middle of the court, if you can.”

“Of course, m’lady.” Chat Noir ran off to find the supervillain.

Ladybug strung her yoyo sting through the two sticks holding the doors closed. They were shuddering worryingly. Ladybug crossed her fingers and hoped that they would hold for just a little bit longer. She ran up to the second floor and braced herself on the railing. Ladybug opened the box of clay with one hand and scooped some out. Chat Noir burst through the door, dodging beams, supervillain hot on his tail, playing as he ran. 

Ladybug formed a ball and then held it in her right hand, her yoyo string in her left. “Now, Chat!” 

“Cataclysm!” Chat Noir dodged a beam, and it hit the wall behind him, which collapsed. Chat Noir ran to the other side and touched the wall. As it crumbled into dust, Ladybug yanked on her yoyo, hard, and the wood holding the doors closed snapped. Kids from all over Paris poured in from the doors and the holes in the wall, racing to get to the Piper first. He yelped and tried to back up, but the children were streaming towards him from all directions, surrounding him, dancing, grabbing at his clothes, his horn. 

The Piper lifted up his horn, ready to play, but Ladybug was already moving, swinging across the court, throwing her clay right into the bell before she landed next to Chat Noir. The Pied Piper cried out and tried to shake the clay out, but it didn’t budge. 

Ladybug snagged the horn from out of his hand with her yoyo. She snapped it over her knee and threw the pieces to the ground. “Get out of there, you nasty bug.”

After cleansing the akuma, tossing the clay box into the air, and doing their signature fist bump, Ladybug and Chat Noir retreated to the roof.

“Sorry again I was so late getting here,” Chat Noir said sheepishly. God, he was cute. Even when his ears were drooping sadly.

“Don’t worry about it, kitty,” she said, reaching out to ruffle his hair between the cat ears. 

Chat’s expression barely changed. 

“Chat? Are you okay?” Ladybug asked. “You don’t have to feel guilty, I know it’s hard to get away sometimes-”

“Can I...ask you for some advice?” Ladybug had never heard Chat Noir’s voice sound so small. 

“Of course, _chaton_ ,” she said immediately. She sat down on the roof, careful to make sure they were out of sight of the people below. “What’s wrong?”

Chat hesitated. “It’s… gosh, I can’t even say it.”

Ladybug waited, even as her earrings beeped. She was going to be there for her kitty, the way he was always there for her.

“I messed up,” Chat admitted. “There’s this friend of mine, well, I guess not really a friend yet. But I thought we might be getting along better, until I said something really, really dumb while she was trying to tell me something important and now she probably won’t talk to me for the rest of my life.” He said the entire thing in one breath, really fast.”

“Dumber than your puns?” Ladybug teased, hoping to lighten the mood. 

“My puns are paw-some, thank you very much.” Chat said, poking Ladybug in the side. “I don’t know what to do, though,” he said softly. His ring beeped, but neither of them mentioned it like they might have a few weeks ago.

“Chat, you can’t just ignore other people’s feelings,” Ladybug told him, feeling a pang. She didn’t want to be harsh to her kitty, but how many times had she tried to confess her feelings to him, only to be brushed off with a light comment? As if she was joking?

Chat frowned. “I didn’t say anything about feelings,” he said uncertainly.

“You said this girl was trying to tell you something important.” Ladybug reminded him. 

“...Oh,” Chat said quietly. He seemed deep in thought. “Huh.”

Or maybe he was just really, really oblivious.

Ladybug put a hand to her ear as her earrings beeped again. She didn’t have to go far, but she was cutting it close as it was. “I have to go soon, Chat, and so do you. But listen. Chat, you are the most sincere person I know-”

Chat smiled.

“-when you’re not cracking jokes and trying to be the cool cat.” she finished. She stood up and held out a hand. 

Chat stared up at her. Ladybug smiled down at him.

“This might be cliche, but seriously, Chat...just be yourself. Show her that you really do want to be friends.” 

It didn’t seem adequate. She wanted to tell him more, how incredible he was, how this girl would be dumb to not want to be his friend. How much his partnership meant to her, how much she wished it could be more. But she forced herself to swallow the words down. This was about Chat right now. 

Chat Noir took her hand and stood up in one fluid motion. His beautiful green eyes sparkled at her as he finally gave her a real smile, and then he stepped forward and enveloped her in a hug. He was so much taller than her that he had to bend down, and even then Ladybug’s feet still came up off the ground a little. “Thank you, Ladybug,” he whispered.

Ladybug wrapped her arms around him and tried to memorize every detail of Chat Noir holding her. “Of course, kitty.”

When he finally stepped back, Ladybug was sure her face was redder than her suit. Chat Noir didn’t seem to notice as he waved to her and ran off. “See you, Ladybug!”

“Good luck!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment and let me know what you think!


	5. Volpina Flashback

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Volpina chapter, as promised. This entire chapter is a flashback. Originally there were going to be some more drastic changes, but after thinking about it those didn’t make sense anymore.

“Can you believe Lila knows Prince Ali? She even flew in his private jet with him!”

“Why did Jagged Stone write a song about Lila when he could’ve written it about me?”

“Lila knows all of the Hollywood directors. She promised she’d mention me to Steven Basielberg himself!”

Marinette ran over to Alya. “Lila?”

Alya looked over at her. “Yeah, she just started at our school.” She pointed up to the second floor, where Lila was standing with Adrien. “She even gave me an exclusive interview for the Ladyblog, ‘cause Ladybug saved her life once! Watch!” She showed Marinette her phone. 

Marinette didn’t recognize the girl on Alya’s screen. She squinted up at the real Lila, trying to see her better. She didn’t remember saving this girl, but Ladybug saved a lot of people. Still, she felt like if she had interacted with Lila long enough to warrant a blog post on the Ladyblog, then she would at least recognize her. She couldn’t see her very well, though, she was too far. She’d have to get closer to double check.

“Haven’t _you_ been saved by Ladybug?” Marinette asked Alya, raising an eyebrow. “Like, twice? At least?” 

“Yep!” Alya said cheerfully. “Best moments of my life! Lila’s cool for other reasons, though, too. She’s got the most incredible life, and now she’s going here. She’s totally awesome!” Alya wandered away, saying something about hits on the Ladyblog. 

Marinette followed, but her mind was racing. If she could see Lila up close and in person she was sure she would know if she recognized her or not. Not wanting to seem suspicious, she tried to put it out of her mind for now. She made it five minutes before she gave up. She made her excuses to Alya and left to go find Lila. Wanting to welcome the new girl wasn’t suspicious, right? It wasn’t strange to be curious. Even if she was mostly curious about the Ladybug claims. Reaching the courtyard, Marinette looked around. “Where did she go?” she muttered, walking up the stairs. 

“Why are you trying to find Lila?” Tikki asked, poking her head out of Marinette’s purse.

“I need to see if I recognize her.” Marinette replied, looking around. She still didn’t see her. The library, maybe? “Isn’t it weird that I don’t remember her?”

“You can’t expect yourself to remember every person you save,” Tikki reminded her.

“Yeah, but I remember the people I personally save,” Marinette said, pushing open the library door and dropping her voice to a whisper. “I don’t want people saying I saved them when I didn’t. Oh, there’s Adrien. That must be Lila next to him.”

\---

Adrien was very uncomfortable. Fortunately, he’d spent his whole life in uncomfortable situations, so he knew how to deal with it. Smile and be polite. Just get it over with. Don’t make waves. 

Lila put her hand on Adrien’s. “I love superheroes,” she said, giving him a soft smile.

Adrien smiled politely back but was relieved when Lila removed her hand to keep looking at the book.

“Ladybug?” she said in surprise when she turned the page to reveal a woman dressed in red and black.

Adrien smiled fondly at the mention of his partner, leaning forward to get a closer look at the book. “Ladybug’s pretty amazing, isn’t she?” 

Lila scooted her chair closer to Adrien’s, so close that he had to lean back to look at her. _Be polite, Adrien._ “A girl doesn’t need a costume to be amazing, you know.” she said, looking up at him through her lashes.

“Of course,” he said, his thoughts flashing briefly to Marinette. “I’m just saying she’s cool, is all. Saving the city and all that.”

“So, you like superheroes?” Lila asked. Adrien couldn’t quite read her expression. Relief?

“You could say that,” Adrien replied, twisting his body under the guise of facing her better, but really so he could have an excuse to move a bit farther away from her.

“You know, I actually happen to be very close friends with Ladybug.”

 _Wait, what?_ “Really?” Adrien said, more than a little skeptical, but trying to hide it. Ladybug wasn’t the type to make friends with people while she was in costume. And if she did, it would be with someone who wouldn’t go around _telling_ people that. Then again, she was friendly with Alya, so maybe he was wrong.

A _thump_ interrupted them before Lila could respond. Grateful for the excuse to get some space, Adrien jumped to his feet to see Marinette on the ground, groaning.

“Marinette! Are you okay?” He ran over to help her up, but at the last second chickened out and grabbed her backpack instead.

“Nothing broken,” Marinette replied, getting up and taking her bag from him with a small smile that made him blush. “Thanks.” She looked at Lila, who was still at the table, hand resting on the superhero book, watching them.

Shoot. Was he supposed to introduce them or something? He had no idea. He was normally the one being introduced by his father. He supposed it couldn’t hurt. 

“Lila, this is… Marinette.” he hesitated, but he could feel a small smile on his lips as he said her name. He didn’t notice Lila’s eyes narrow and flick between the two. “And Marinette, this is Lila. She just transferred to Francois-Dupont.” 

“It’s so nice to meet you, Marinette,” Lila said, moving to stand next to Adrien. “Adrien and I were working on our history homework _together._ ” Adrien couldn’t see Lila’s face, but Marinette raised an eyebrow.

“You just transferred here and you already have homework?” Marinette asked. Adrien didn’t point out that they hadn’t actually been doing it. That would definitely give her the wrong idea. “Well, I’ll leave you guys to it. Sorry for interrupting.”

Adrien was about to suggest she join them, but as if Lila knew what he was thinking, she stepped in front of him so he couldn’t see Marinette’s retreating back. “Where were we, again?”

“Um, actually-”

“Oh! That’s right, we were going to talk about Ladybug.” Lila looked over her shoulder, then lowered her voice. “We can’t talk about it here, though. How about we meet in the park after school and I’ll tell you everything.”

“Uh, actually-” He was saved from having to answer by his phone going off. “I gotta go! I’ve got a lesson in...58 seconds!” He quickly grabbed his books, including his dad’s, and shoved them into his bag. He straightened and turned, only to see Lila _right_ there. Startled, he dropped his bag.

“So, the park?” Lila said, bending to get his bag and handing it back to him.

“Um, sure,” Adrien agreed, then ran out of the library. He was going to be late, and trying to turn Lila down politely would take up precious seconds.

Oh, who was he kidding? He was curious about the girl who claimed to be friends with Ladybug.

\---

Marinette sighed to herself, leaning her back against the tree she was hiding behind. “Tell me again why we’re stalking the new girl?” she asked Tikki. Yes, she was pretty pissed that Lila was telling people she saved her when she hadn’t, but it’s not like she could do anything about it without compromising her identity. And following her to a jewelry store?

“I have to see her book!”

“I don’t get it. Why are you so concerned about Lila’s book?”

“I’ll tell you everything once I know for sure.”

This was the same conversation they had as soon as Marinette had left the library. She had confirmed that she did not know Lila, and was perfectly happy to take Lila’s hint and leave her and Adrien alone. But Tikki had insisted that Marinette follow Lila after school, needing to get a closer look at the book she had been looking at in the library.

“We don’t even know if she still has it,” Marinette pointed out. “For all we know, it was a library book.”

“If that book is what I think it is, there’s no way it ended up in a high school library.” Tikki said stubbornly. “She said she knew Ladybug?”

Marinette pulled out her phone. “Let’s look at the interview she gave Alya. I wonder what akuma I supposedly saved her from.” Positioning her phone so both she and Tikki could see, Marinette hit play. 

“What on earth…” Marinette’s jaw dropped more and more as she saw the video. “We’re _like this_? We are most certainly not _like this_! She’s such a liar!”

“There! She’s coming out!” Tikki said, pointing. Marinette put her phone away and followed her to the park, hiding behind a tree near where Lila sat down. Pulling out her phone again, she used the zoom to see Lila better. She was putting on a necklace, then pulling out the book.

“There’s the book, Marinette! I have to get a closer look at it!”

“Oh hi!” Lila said, quickly hiding the book behind her back as Adrien approached. 

Marinette frowned. Why would Lila hide the book from Adrien? She gasped as Lila tossed the book into the trash bin. What on earth was she doing?

“I’m going to go get the book,” Tikki said.

“No, Tikki!”

“I have to get that book!”

Marinette followed her kwami to the trash bin, arriving in time to catch the book as Tikki struggled to lift it up. “This is the book, Marinette!” Tikki said excitedly.

“So do you know Ladybug, for real?” Adrien’s voice came from right behind the trash bin.

Marinette froze. Listening carefully, she resisted the urge to peek around the bin.

“Not only did Ladybug save my life,” Lila responded, “we’ve become very close friends because we have something very special in common.” _What?_ “It’s what I wanted to tell you about. I’m the descendant of a vixen superheroine myself.” _What?!_

“Volpina?” Marinette glanced at Tikki, who shook her head. Okay, so she was definitely lying. And this was a huge lie. Pretending to not only be her friend, but a superhero herself-she and her family could be targeted by Hawkmoth. She awkwardly turned around so she could sneak away and regroup with Tikki, but Adrien’s next words stopped her.

“Volpina? Wait a minute! I think I read about her in my book.”

Marinette gasped quietly, hugging the book to her chest as she crouched lower to the ground. _His_ book? Why did Lila have it? She was so confused.

“Of course she’s in your book,” Lila said. “She’s one of the most important superheroes. More powerful and celebrated than Ladybug.” Marinette clutched the book harder, frowning. “Between you and me, Ladybug doesn’t even make the top ten.” Marinette’s jaw clenched. “My grandma gave me this necklace.”

“Wow,” Tikki said, hovering near Marinette as she started to sneak away. “She’s good. Really good.”

Marinette made it to the park entrance and straightened up.

“Did you hear that, Tikki? Tell me you heard that. _Adrien’s_ book? Lila _threw it in the trash bin_! And for someone who’s supposedly friends with Ladybug, she sure has a lot to say about how unimpressive I am.” Shoving the book at Tikki, Marinette peeked around the gate. Lila and Adrien were still on the same bench. “Who does this girl think she is? She’s putting herself in danger and lying about me. Tikki, spots on!”

\---

Adrien gaped at the necklace Lila was holding out to him shyly. This was not what he had expected when he agreed to meet Lila at the park. “Are you telling me,” he said, reaching out to take the necklace in his own hand. “this is a miraculous?”

Suddenly, Ladybug landed in front of them. Adrien and Lila both jumped, turning toward her. 

“Hey guys! Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. Have you seen Chat Noir around?”

“Um, no.” Adrien said, mind racing. Why was Ladybug looking for him? Was something wrong? He needed to get out of there and transform.

“Oh...are you Adrien Agreste?”

Adrien nodded mutely, a little pleased that Ladybug knew who he was out of the mask.

“Cool. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Ladybug.”

“I know,” Adrien managed, then mentally facepalmed. Could he have said something dumber?

Luckily, Ladybug grinned. “I suppose you do. Who’s your friend?”

Surprised, Adrien turned to Lila, who was hunching in her seat as if hoping she wouldn’t get noticed. “Don’t you know Lila?”

“Can’t say we’ve ever met.” Ladybug said smoothly. “Lila, you say?”

Adrien’s brown wrinkled in confusion. So… Lila didn’t know Ladybug? He turned to the girl next to her. “You said that-”

“It’s really nice to meet you, Ladybug!” Lila said frantically, interrupting him. “Thanks for… keeping the city safe, and everything!”

“That’s my job,” Ladybug answered good-naturedly. She seemed to be in an unnaturally good mood. Was she always like this when talking to civilians? “Speaking of which, I should get back to finding Chat Noir. If you see him, will you tell him I’m looking for him? I’ve heard reports that people are pretending to be superheroes for attention.” Ladybug shook her head. “That’s so dangerous, not to mention a huge lie. Anyway, it was nice to meet you both!”

And with that, Ladybug threw her yoyo and was gone, disappearing over the roofs of Paris.

After a moment, Adrien spoke. “So… I guess you’re not the descendant of a superhero?” he turned to Lila, whose head was buried in her hands. He should have guessed she didn’t actually know Ladybug. Adrien could definitely relate to fans pretending to be his friend.

Lila let out a sob. “No, I am!” Adrien felt a stab of pity. She probably just wanted to make friends at a new school. He reached toward her, but Lila, spitting out “How dare she!”, grabbed her bag and ran off.

“Wait, Lila!” Adrien hesitated, wondering if he should go after her or not. Did she want some space? Probably.

“Do you think that was a miraculous?” Adrien asked Plagg.

“Huh? I wasn’t listening.”

Adrien sighed. “Let’s go see what Ladybug needs. Maybe she’ll know more. Plagg, claws out!”

Chat Noir searched the rooftops, looking for Ladybug’s red suit. It was surprisingly hard to find her when they didn’t have a predetermined meeting spot. He pulled out his baton. “Ladybug?”

 _“Chat Noir?”_ Ladybug’s voice squeaked, then she cleared her throat. _“Uh, what’s up?”_

“You sound surprised. I heard through the grapevine that you were looking for me.”

Pause. _“Right, I, uh, just didn’t think I’d actually find you.”_

Chat Noir scanned the rooftops. “Where-” he gasped.

_“Chat?”_

“What the-”

_“Chat, what is-oh my god!”_

Chat Noir started running. “Code red, Ladybug. You see it?”

_“I see it. Meet you there.”_

Chat Noir hung up and turned his full attention to making his way as fast as he could toward the blazing meteor that was headed right towards Paris.

_Volpina, her necklace. Lila, her family heirloom. The fox miraculous. The book. Lila saying she knew Ladybug when she didn’t really. Ladybug saying people were pretending to be superheroes. Lila running away from the park, sobbing._

It all made sense now, as Adrien detransformed in an alley.

“Didn’t Ladybug say she’d meet you at your house? ” Plagg asked as Adrien caught him.

“Yeah, but my bodyguard is still waiting to pick me up from the park. It would be weird if Adrien magically appeared in his room. They’ll figure out where I am soon enough.” Adrien looked to see if anyone was watching, then beckoned Plagg to hide as he walked briskly down the street towards the park.

“But isn’t Ladybug expecting Chat Noir?” 

“She can handle this herself. If Volpina’s really got a thing for me, I can make her see sense without Chat Noir. Maybe then she’ll-” Adrien stopped abruptly. He had turned a corner, and could see Marinette walking quickly across the park, looking surreptitiously around her but not spotting him.

Holding his dad’s superhero book under one arm.

Confused, Adrien checked his school bag. Sure enough, the book wasn’t there. Why did Marinette have his book? Maybe he dropped it while he was in the park with Lila? He started to make his way over to Marinette, but stopped again as she looked around one more time, then tossed the book into the trash bin. 

“What?!” Adrien hissed to himself. He started to make his way over to her, but an orange blur suddenly dropped from the sky in front of him, blocking his view of Marinette.

“Adrien!” Volpina said.

“Hey,” Adrien said, trying to look confused, but also trying to peek over her shoulder. “Who are you?”

“Do you remember this necklace?” Volpina said, walking closer and holding up the chain. “I didn’t know how to tell you the truth, but at least this way you can see for yourself that I’m not lying. I am a superhero.”

“Lila?” Adrien said, leaning forward and widening his eyes as if he needed to see her closer. Really he was trying to see Marinette better. She was almost to the gates, about to leave, but he could also see Ladybug swinging toward them.

“You can call me Volpina.” Lila said, drawing his attention back to her. “I’m sorry about earlier. Ladybug’s jealous that she’s not as powerful as me.”

Adrien forgot about Marinette for a moment. “Ladybug didn’t seem jealous to me,” he flinched as Lila scowled, but it was true. Well, she had seemed jealous of Volpina, but not of Lila. And now that they knew Volpina was actually a supervillain, she had no reason to be jealous anymore.

Ladybug landed behind Volpina, who whipped around.

“See what I mean? She’s jealous of me and won’t leave me alone!” Lila spat angrily, moving into a fighting stance. “But this time, you aren’t going to ruin our date, Ladybug.”

“Um,” Adrien said, wanting to protest that it wasn’t a date, but Volpina ignored him, charging at Ladybug. Adrien turned and ran out of the park to transform.

“So,” Ladybug said after watching Lila walk away, cradling her necklace to her chest. “If that Adrien was an illusion, where’s the real Adrien?”

“Uh, everything’s been put back to normal, right?” Chat said nervously. “So he must be safely back at home.” When Ladybug looked unconvinced, he added, “I can check if you want.”

Ladybug smiled at him. “Sure. Thanks, kitty.”

Chat Noir didn’t go home yet, though. For the third time that day, he made his way back to the park where he met with Lila. Adrien had a hard time believing that Marinette would straight up toss a book in a trash bin, but he _saw_ her, and he had to get his book back. Detransformed, he made his way over to the trash bin and peeked inside. Tissues, and an empty cup that had once held ice cream. Definitely no book. Was this the wrong bin? 

He peeked into all the trash cans, even the ones he was sure weren’t the right ones. There was trash in all of them, so there was no way they’d gotten emptied in the half-hour the fight with Volpina had taken. So… what now? He could ask Marinette, but why would she have come back to get the book? She probably thought it was trash, or meant to put it on top of the bin so someone would find it and it slipped, or...

Marinette wouldn’t steal his book and throw it out just because it was his, would she? Actually, now that Adrien thought of it, Marinette had tripped and seen Lila with the book. Was it possible she thought it was hers? But that made even less sense. Marinette had no reason to dislike Lila. She liked almost everyone, with a few exceptions. It was more likely that it was an accident, she was clumsy…

Suddenly Adrien got it. Lila liked him. He liked Marinette. And Lila knew that.

_Volpina._

Which left one question...where was his dad’s book?

Adrien groaned, leaning his head back against his desk chair. It had only been a day since his father told him he wouldn’t be returning to school, and he had almost forgotten how dull his days had been. He definitely remembered now. Besides the brief respite of his dad getting akumatized, he had been shut up in the house all day.

A distant voice called from somewhere in the house. “Adrikins!”

Adrien bolted up. Only one person called him that, and only one person would yell through his stone-silent house like that.

Running into the entrance hall, he stopped next to Nathalie, a few steps behind his father, who was standing at the bottom of the stairs, facing Chloé, who was staring right back at him with her arms crossed around… a very familiar book. 

“I’ve told you Miss Bourgeois, my son does not need to be here for this conversation.”

“Oh, of course he does,” Chloé said flippantly. “We’re talking about him, aren’t we?”

“Yes, and I’ve already decided.” Adrien could hear the frown in his dad’s voice. “Adrien will not be returning to school.” 

“Yes,” Chloé said, exasperated. “But I’ve brought back the book, so what’s the big deal?”

Adrien could tell that his dad was losing his patience. Chloé was one of the rare people who could stand up to his father, though his father usually got his way in the end anyway. “The ‘big deal’, Miss Bourgeois, is that even though you may have found the book, Adrien lost it in the first place.”

Adrien opened his mouth to protest, but Chloé shot him a look, shutting him up. “That’s ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!” 

Adrien sighed. It was great that Chloé found the book, but he doubted anything could change his father’s mind right now, much less Chloé. It wasn’t like she could threaten to call the Mayor on him. 

His father took the book from Chloé and handed it to Nathalie. “Thank you, Chloé, for returning this item, but Adrien will not be returning to-”

“But he didn’t even lose the book! Dupain-Cheng stole it!”

_What?_

“I saw her take it from Adrien’s bag while he was in the bathroom. I was going to call her out, but then she left it in the classroom,” Chloé put her hands on her hips and continued. “She was probably hoping someone would find it and she wouldn’t get caught, but lucky for her, I decided to be a nice person and was planning on bringing it back without telling anyone.”

Well, that didn’t sound like Chloé at all. Or Marinette. But Chloé was trying to help him out, so he stayed quiet. 

There was a pause while Chloé glared at Gabriel, daring him to call her out. Adrien wished he could see his dad’s face, to see whether he believed Chloé or not. 

“Well,” Gabriel said after a moment. “Considering Adrien didn’t really lose the book...Adrien may return to school tomorrow.”

“Yes!” Chloé ran up the stairs and threw her arms around Adrien. He was too happy to even mind too much. “You hear that, Adrikins? You’re coming back to school!”

“Thanks, Chlo.” Adrien hugged her back fondly. 

Gabriel frowned at them and stalked back to his office, leaving Nathalie behind to escort Chloé out.

Adrien walked her to the door, and when he thought Nathalie was out of earshot, he whispered, “ _Did_ Marinette take the book?”

Chloé tossed her hair. “Well, I didn’t actually see her take it, but I saw her leave it on a desk in the classroom, so obviously she took it, right?”

Adrien didn’t quite agree with that logic. More likely she found it somewhere and left it for someone to find. He didn’t argue though. He owed Chloé big time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still remember, the very first time I ever watched Volpina, when Marinette transforms into Ladybug, I literally thought this was how she would confront Lila. I do love me some passive-aggressive Marinette.
> 
> Comments and constructive criticism are appreciated!
> 
> Also, I guess my end notes from the first chapter are appearing after every chapter. Does anyone know how to fix that?


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last bit in italics is a flashback of Animan.
> 
> Edit: So, turns out none of my italics have been working, I didn't realize my writing didn't just copy and paste into ao3 like normal, so I'm trying to fix that right now. I'll also go back and add that stuff for previous chapters as well.

Marinette sighed as she flipped through her textbook again, searching for the answer to a question on her homework. Maybe the answer was in her notebook? She dug through her bag and found… another history textbook.

Marinette frowned. She must have picked Alya’s up by accident. She opened the one in her bag to check the name. _Marinette Dupain-Cheng._ So the other one was… 

_Adrien Agreste._ In neat, even handwriting across the top.

“Huh. Tikki, I have Adrien’s textbook.” Weird. And now that she thought about it, she had picked this textbook up from somewhere in her room absentmindedly. She must have been using two textbooks for the past week without realizing it.

Tikki flew over. “Why?”

“I don’t know. Actually, now that I think about it, I remember Adrien mentioning he lost his textbook. How’d it end up…” Marinette trailed off as she counted the days in her head. “He must have left it here when he came over for the photoshoot.”

“But that was a week ago. Why hasn’t he asked for it back?” Tikki asked as Marinette climbed up to her bed to get her phone.

Marinette shot off a quick text to Alya. “He probably doesn’t remember leaving it here.” she answered, climbing back down. She sat back down at her desk and returned to her homework, making it through three more problems before her phone buzzed with Alya’s reply.

“What is it?” Tikki asked when Marinette frowned at the screen.

Marinette turned the screen to show her. “ She just sent me Adrien’s phone number.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No, I was just hoping Alya would give the textbook back to Adrien for me.” Marinette had been doing so well avoiding Adrien since their argument. The worst part was that after thinking about it, Adrien was partly right. Exposing Lila without first giving her a chance to take everything back would probably end in her being akumatized-again. But on the other hand, Lila knew Marinette knew she was lying and _threatened_ her. Twice. Marinette didn’t know how far Lila would go, but she was certain Lila wouldn’t just stop. 

So maybe Marinette shouldn’t have gone off on Adrien like that. After all, he didn’t know the whole story. _That doesn’t mean I’m not right,_ Marinette thought stubbornly, though she knew deep down that even though she wasn’t overreacting to being threatened, she had overreacted when Adrien tried to talk to her about it.

“Might as well get it over with?” Tikki asked, jolting Marinette out of her thoughts. She realized she was just standing there, looking at her phone. She sighed and called the number, plopping down into her desk chair as she listened to it ring. And ring. And ring.

_“This is Adrien’s voicemail, leave a message.”_

Marinette breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t have to talk to him. Yet. She forced a cheerful voice and said, “Hi, it’s Marinette. I found your textbook, call me back.” It sounded fake, even to her.

She tossed her phone onto her chaise. “Glad I got that over with.”

Tikki flew over to her. “Shouldn’t you talk to Adrien about it, rather than avoiding him? I’m sure you guys can work this out.” 

Marinette frowned. “I don’t know, Tikki. It’s not like we were really friends before.”

“Why not?”

“Don’t you think he’s kind of two-faced? He thinks he’s all sweet and sincere, but he’s so cocky. I can’t stand it. I don’t need that kind of roller coaster right now.”

Tikki crossed her arms. “Isn’t Chat Noir kind of the same way?”

Marinette shot Tikki an offended look! “You can’t even compare the two! Chat is dorky, and uncomplicated, and so reliable. He’s kind without any strings attached. I mean, we have an akuma because of Adrien every other week. Why does no one have a crush on Chat Noir? He’s obviously better.”

“Adrien is a famous model.” 

“And Chat Noir and I are superheroes. He doesn’t get enough credit. You’d think more people would be a fan of-”

_“If you wish to hear your message again, press one. If you wish to erase your message, press two.”_

Marinette and Tikki both gasped. Panicking, Marinette leaped across the room, snatching up her phone. She tumbled over her chaise as she stabbed her finger at the screen, hitting her elbow painfully on the floor when she landed.

Mariette sighed in relief and twisted so she was laying on her back. “Whew. That was-”

_“Message saved. Goodbye.”_

“Ahh!” Marinette sprang up and clutched her head. “Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no oh no oh no…”

“Calm down, Marinette.” Tikki said, flying over to her. “It’s going to be okay.”

 _“Okay?”_ Marinette said, her voice higher than normal. “This is so not okay, Tikki. I just insulted Adrien, declared my love for Chat Noir, and practically admitted that I am Ladybug, all on Adrien’s voicemail. This is a disaster!” she wailed, face planting onto her chaise dejectedly. She just revealed her identity. Her life was now a ticking bomb waiting to explode. Not to mention the humiliation. “I’m pretty sure this is not what you meant when you said to ‘talk it out’,” she said, her voice muffled.

“Okay, but if you don’t calm down, you won’t be able to fix it!”

Marinette opened her eyes to look at the kwami, hovering a few inches in front of her face. “You think it’s not too late?”

“It’s never too late to make things right!” Tikki said cheerfully.

Marinette narrowed her eyes at her. “Are you trying to guilt me into making up with Adrien?” she asked suspiciously. “Because that’s definitely not happening.”

Tikki just rolled her eyes.

Marinette picked up her phone again. “This wouldn’t have happened if Alya had just agreed to take the textbook,” Marinette muttered, scrolling through her contacts. Though she knew it wasn’t really Alya’s fault.

She finally found Nino. **Do you know where Adrien is?** Then she grabbed her purse and ran towards the door. She had to get to Adrien’s phone before he did. 

Her phone buzzed. **Fencing. Why?**

****

****

**I’ll explain later. Where is that?**

**The school.**

Thank goodness. The school was close to her house. Marinette put her phone away and sprinted to the school. She snuck around the side of the gym, where sure enough, people were fencing, too busy to notice her. She made it into the locker room without trouble, but then realized she had another problem. 

“Which one’s his locker?” she hissed.

“If you call him, you’ll make his phone ring,” Tikki suggested, flying out from her purse.

Marinette did just that, and heard a faint ringtone from somewhere in the locker room. “Nice, Tikki!” 

She moved locker to locker, calling Adrien’s phone whenever it ended until she found the right locker. Tikki unlocked it for her, and Marinette snatched Adrien’s phone from his bag and got to work trying to open it.

\---

“Whoo! That was rough.” Adrien’s fencing partner put down his sabre as Mr. D'argencourt called the end of practice.

Adrien lifted his helmet and wiped his sweaty forehead with his hand. “Tell me about it.”

He turned around to head to the locker room, but instead spotted Marinette. She was walking quickly along the side of the gym, slinking as if she didn’t want to be seen. He lit up and ran to catch up with her. This was his chance to start up a conversation. He hoped she wasn’t still mad at him. He reached just as she was about to leave the school through the open front doors.

“Marinette!”

Marinette jumped and whirled around so fast it probably hurt her neck. “A-Adrien!” she said, clasping her hands behind her back. “What are you doing here? I-I mean, it’s nice to-um, how are you?” 

“I have fencing,” Adrien said, gesturing at his fencing gear, hoping he didn’t look as hot and sweaty as he felt. She was still talking to him, thank goodness, but he had never heard her stammer before. It was kind of adorable. “How are you?”

“Yes, fencing, I can see that, I mean obviously…” Marinette giggled nervously as she trailed off, fidgeting.

“Okay…” Adrien said. Was she okay? She was never this flustered. “What are you doing at the school so late? I thought you went home.”

“Nope! I-I mean, yes I did, but I came back! Here I am! Right here,” she babbled, her hands still clasped behind her. “I, uh, I came to find you! Yeah. I have your history textbook. I mean, I don’t have it here, with me, like, where would I put it, no way, but, um, it’s at my house, so maybe I can bring it to school on Monday and give it to you?”

Adrien hid a smile. She finally found his book. Good timing. Ladybug’s voice echoed in his head. _Show her that you really do want to be friends._ “What about the pool party tomorrow?” he suggested. “Are you going to be there?” 

“Um… I don’t know, actually. I might have something else going on.” she said, shifting her feet. 

“You should come,” Adrien said. He really wanted her to be there. It was one of the rare times he was invited to something with the class and he was allowed to go. _Be yourself._ “I’m told I look really good in a swimsuit.”

Marinette coughed into her arm, hiding her face. Adrien didn’t know if that was a good or bad sign. When she recovered, arm going right behind her back again, she said, “The fencing uniform will do for me, thanks, but I’m sure the paparazzi would be more than happy to feed your ego, Agreste.” She winked and walked away, leaving him gaping after her.

“But-wait no, I meant-just for you-ugh,” Adrien was stuttering worse than Marinette had been.

Plagg flew out of his hiding spot, clutching his stomach and laughing so hard he could barely talk. “Shoulda followed Ladybug’s advice, huh?”

“I did!” Adrien protested, turning to walk towards the locker room. “I was being myself!”

“Yourself, huh?”

Adrien ignored Plagg’s obvious skepticism. “Yes. And you didn’t see her. She winked at me, Plagg! What is that supposed to mean?”

Plagg groaned. “It means I’m going to have to listen to you overthink this for the rest of the day.”

\---

_“What do you think you’re doing?”_

__

__

_“A-Alya!” Nino jumped and scratched behind his head. “Hahaha, fancy seeing you here, dudette.”_

_Alya crossed her arms and waited._

_“I was just, uh…”_

_“Spying on Adrien and Marinette?”_

_Nino sighed and pulled her down behind the bush he was hiding behind. “You don’t get it, girl. Adrien hates that she doesn’t like him.”_

_“Because he’s friends with the girl who tormented her for years? While everyone else just let it happen?”_

_Nino cringed. “Okay, I’ll admit that wasn’t cool. I’m sorry. But Adrien’s not like Chloé, I promise.”_

_“And that gives you permission to try to set them up?” Alya frowned, peeking over the bush to where Adrien and Marinette were sitting on opposite sides of the bench, not speaking._

_“I’m not trying to set them up-”_

_“You invited her to the zoo then purposefully flaked. She didn’t even think Adrien was going to be here.”_

_“Fine, I’m trying to set them up. But look, how else was Adrien going to get a chance to talk to her? She’s still not speaking to him, even though he didn’t put the gum on her seat. That girl can hold a major grudge.”_

_“Wait, he didn’t put the gum on her seat?” Alya said, surprised._

_Nino shook his head. “Chloé did.”_

_“Why doesn’t he just tell her that?”_

_“He doesn’t want to throw Chloé under the bus.”_

_“Of course he doesn’t,” Alya muttered._

_“Alya,” Nino begged. “You’ve got to help me. My boy’s so shy. He’s never been to school before, he has like, zero social skills, and it’s worse because he has a major crush on Marinette.”_

_Alya smirked. “Obviously.”_

_“Exactly,” Nino said. “He can’t do this by himself, and as you can see-” he pointed to where Adrien and Marinette were still not speaking. “I suck at wingmanning by myself.”_

_“Good point.”_

_“Hey!”_

_Alya shrugged. “You said it, not me.”_

_“He’s coming!”_

_“Get out of here!”_

_Kim and Max suddenly raced by where Nino and Alya were hiding, a black panther chasing them. Nino and Alya sprang up. Adrien and Marinette were already gone, probably having run away from the horde of animals that were charging through the zoo._

_“We’d better ditch this place,” Nino said. He shoved his way out the bushes and ran. Alya briefly considered pulling out her phone to record, but gave in to her very small sense of self-preservation for once and ran after Nino._

_“Stay put and you’ll be safe,” Ladybug said, slamming the exhibit door behind them._

_Alya stared after her. Nino glanced sideways at Alya._

_“Uh… long time no see, amiright?”_

_Alya sighed and turned to face him. “You really think Adrien’s good enough for Marinette?”_

_Nino blinked and adjusted his cap. “Dude, I’ve known Marinette for years. She and Adrien are, like, the two nicest people I’ve ever met in my life. I feel like they could be really good friends, if she just gave him a chance.”_

_“Alright, let’s get one thing straight,” Alya said, sitting down._

_Nino hesitated, then sat down next to her._

_“Marinette can make her own choices. If she’s uncomfortable, we back off immediately. She has no_ obligation _to date him.”_

_“Does that mean-”_

_“And I want to talk to Adrien first. But... I’m in.”_

_Nino grinned, and Alya wondered if this was such a good idea. She was taking a big risk. She really only had Nino’s word on Adrien’s character. But who knew? Maybe this would help Marinette get over her bordering-on-obsessive celebrity crush on Chat Noir. Alya glanced at the boy next to her. She hadn’t realized before how much they had in common. And… Nino was actually pretty cute when he smiled like that._

_Lucky for her, she was nothing like Adrien, and had absolutely no difficulty asking him out._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to clarify, yes, Marinette totally snatched Adrien’s phone. 
> 
> Does anyone else think it’s weird in the show that there’s a ton of people who like Marinette, Ladybug and Adrien but not Chat Noir? The only episode about that was where Marinette pretended to be in love with him. I mean objectively, he’s got to have a supermodel/superhero bod and he runs around saving people in a leather cat suit, you’d think someone would fall in love with him. Or maybe Paris ships Ladynoir too hard to have a crush on him.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Ahem-_ did someone say Adrinette pool party?
> 
> Warning: Contains conflict that escalates towards implied sexual harassment. Based on a true story, so yes it’s realistic. Nothing too bad, just wanted to put it out there.
> 
> Also, the italics problem is all fixed.

“Dude.”

Adrien jumped, startled out of his thoughts, and looked up to where Nino and Alya were peering down at him, dripping with water, almost identical expressions on their faces. He raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“You’ve been sitting here so long you’re completely dry.” Alya said, nudging him with her foot. “You didn’t think we were going to let you get away with posing on a pool chair all afternoon, did you?”

“I am not _posing_ ,” Adrien protested, face turning hot.

Nino snorted. “Dude, you are totally posing.” he gestured down the length of Adrien’s body, splayed out tastefully on the lounge chair. “You look like you’re a model or something.”

“I _am_ a model.”

“Not right now, you aren’t. This is a pool party, Adrien. What’s the point of a pool party if you don’t get in the pool?”

“Yeah, come play a game with us or something,” Nino added.

Adrien’s brow puckered. “A game?” he said hesitantly. “In the pool?”

“Um, yeah? Don’t tell me you’ve never played a pool game.” Nino said.

“Well, The only time I’ve ever been to the pool is a photoshoot or swim lessons.”

“Seriously?” Alya said, exasperated. She saw the look on Adrien’s face and quickly said, “I’m not annoyed with you. Just your control freak of a father.”

Nino slipped his hand into hers.

After a pause, Adrien asked hesitantly, “Do you know if Marinette is coming?” 

Alya and Nino looked at each other, then back at him. “She said she might not make it.” Alya said gently. “She does have a habit of being ridiculously late to things, though,”

“Yeah,” Adrien agreed, glancing at the door.

Nino followed his gaze. “You sure you don’t want to come swim some more? You can still have fun, even if Marinette’s not coming this time.”

“Yeah, sure. I’m just going to stay here for a little longer.” 

They looked at him skeptically.

“I’ll come back in a minute.” Adrien insisted.

He watched as they left to go join Juleka and Rose in the pool. They all shrieked as they got splashed by Kim, then again as Alix retaliated. Soon, half the class was participating in the water fight. Adrien knew they were right. He shouldn’t spend his rare chance to hang out with his friends waiting for someone who might not show up. And now he felt a little guilty, because NIno and Alya couldn’t have as fun a time when they were worrying about him.

A small part of him was glad they did, though. Without Alya and Nino, Adrien was sure the rest of the class would go on with their party, treating Adrien with the same indifference as Chloé, even if they were a little politer about it. Part of the reason was that he was never around, he was sure, and also because Chloé insisted on Adrien hanging out with her, and not with “those losers”. 

Maybe it was time for that to change. Adrien decided. He’d go over and join them. Try more actively to make friends. That was why he had pushed so hard to come to school after all. This chair was so nice and out of the way, though, and it had a perfect view of the door. Maybe he’d wait just a few more minutes. 

A decision he regretted thirty seconds later when Lila cornered him, and even more so five minutes later, when she was still there, sitting by his knees, the dry skin of her legs brushing against his own, talking incessantly about who knows what. Yep, definitely should have followed his friends when he had the chance. He was almost relieved when Chloé stormed up and demanded that Lila leave so she could have quality time with her best friend.

Adrien breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Chloé.”

Chloé tossed her very much not wet ponytail and frowned at him. “This should teach you to spend more time with _me_. Why haven’t you been answering my texts?”

“Hm? Oh, I lost my phone.” Adrien replied. “I can’t find it. Which also means I can’t use it as an excuse to shake off Lila.”

Chloé shook her head and clicked her tongue, plopping down on his chair. “You poor, innocent boy. You’re making it worse.”

Adrien crossed his legs to make room for her.

“I mean, I know you’re just trying to make me jealous of Dupain-Cheng, Adrikins,” Chloé continued, “but little Miss Lila over there doesn’t have that benefit.”

Adrien frowned. “What?”

“Glancing at the door, picking up your phone, all you’re doing is making her try harder.” Chloé raised an eyebrow at him. “Why else do you think the girls are all over you? The best way to get a girl obsessed with you is to make her jealous.”

“Really?”

“Don’t worry, Adrichou.” Chloé patted his leg. “I know you really love me, though.”

\---

Marinette patted her purse, making sure she still had both phones. 

“I still can’t believe you stole Adrien’s phone,” Tikki said.

“What else was I supposed to do? Let him hear that voicemail?” Marinette looked both ways, then crossed the street. “I guess we can up my phone-snatching tally to two. Although deleting a voicemail was a lot easier than recreating a video.” 

“I _hope_ you’re not planning on making this a habit.” Tikki said sternly.

Marinette laughed. “Don’t worry, Tikki. Twice was stressful enough. He almost caught me! If he had seen me holding his phone, it would have been all over.” Marinette spotted the sign for the pool and sped up.

“It’s weird,” she added after a moment. “I think I’ve spoken to Adrien more in this past week than I have in the entire time I’ve known him.”

“Is that going to become a habit?” Tikki asked slyly.

“Hardy har.” Marinette found the outside door for the boys’ dressing room and pressed her ear against it. “Okay, I don’t think anyone’s in there. I’ll be in and out in thirty seconds, then we’ll go back home and no one will be the wiser.”

“I don’t know if this is a good idea,” Tikki said. “Can’t you just give Adrien his phone back at school?”

“He’s never away from his bag at school, and it would be awkward if I said I found his textbook and his phone. This will just take a minute.”

Tikki started to say something else, but Marinette shushed her and with one last look around, opened the door and slipped inside. 

She found Adrien’s bag easily enough, and slipped his phone in an outside pocket. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was the low voice behind her.

“You’re not supposed to be in here.”

Marinette whipped around. Standing in front of her was a boy who looked a few years older than her. She didn’t recognize him.

“Julien,” the boy called, not taking his eyes off her. “There’s a girl in here.”

“What?” Another boy came around the corner of the locker room, toweling off his hair. He stopped when he saw her. “Not bad.”

Marinette cleared her throat. “Um, sorry, I’ll go now.” She moved towards the door, but stopped as the first boy moved to block her.

“Hey, there’s no rush.”

Marinette drew back, but ran right into Julien. She tried to pull away, but he grabbed her wrist. “Let me go!”

“Hey!” A new voice barked from behind them. The boys turned to look at the newcomer, and Marinette twisted her arm away as Adrien pushed through them towards Marinette. “What the hell? Leave her alone.”

Julien backed away, hands raised in a calming gesture. “Chill, man. We were just playing around.”

“Let’s go,” Adrien told Marinette. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he led her out of the locker room and into the main pool area. “Are you okay?” he asked, turning so he could see her. He took her arm and inspected her wrist. 

Marinette took a deep breath to calm her racing heart and focused on his bare collarbone, at her eye level, so she didn’t have to look into his eyes. “I’m fine.”

She could still feel his concerned gaze boring into her. “Are you sure? That was-oh my God.” 

“I’m more embarrassed than anything.” That was true. “I’d rather not talk about it, but…” Suddenly realizing she was basically staring at his naked chest, she forced herself to meet his eyes. “Thank you. For intervening. That-”

“Marinette!” Alya ran up and kissed her cheeks. She looked a lot different in a purple sports bikini and not wearing her glasses. “You made it!” She grabbed Marinette and Adrien by the arms and dragged them over to where Nino was standing by the deep end of the pool.

“Awesome,” Nino said. He looked different too, in a green swimsuit and no cap. “Now we have four. We can play Chicken Fight!”

“What’s Chicken Fight?” Adrien asked.

“Oh, it’s awesome.” Alya promised. “We’ll show you. Go change, Marinette!” Alya took her purse from her and gestured back towards the locker rooms. “You’re with Adrien. Bottom or top?” 

Adrien choked, and Marinette suppressed a smile. “Sorry, Alya. I didn’t bring a swimsuit.”

Alya stared at her, the shrieks from their classmates around them getting louder. “Girl, are you serious? We are at a swimming pool!”

“I guess I forgot?” Marinette shrugged.

“At least she remembered to show up this time.” Nino said, elbowing her.

“Hey!”

Alya and Adrien cracked up.

The yelling behind them grew louder, and then Adrien suddenly lurched forward, crashing into Marinette. She gasped as they toppled into the pool, water going up her mouth and nose as they plunged underneath the water. 

Sound suddenly muted and everything moved in slow motion; Marinette’s wet clothes billowed in the water and Adrien’s limbs tangled with her own as they slipped downwards. She struggled, desperately needing air, but unable to get to the surface with Adrien’s body on top of her. Her elbow hit the bottom of the pool and Adrien shifted, strong arms wrapping around her, cradling her back and head. He held her to his chest as he kicked off the bottom of the pool, and then they were going up.

Their heads broke the surface and Marinette coughed and spluttered. They couldn’t have been in the water more than a few seconds, but had felt so much longer.

Alya and Nino, laughing and cheering, helped them out of the pool, classmates still hollering behind them. Marinette dropped to her hands and knees, coughing out water. Alya crouched next to her and thumped her on the back. “Get it all out, girl. There you go.”

“Marinette!” Adrien helped her sit up once she felt like she wasn’t at risk of throwing up anymore. “Are you okay? I am so sorry!” He ran over to the chairs and grabbed a towel. “Here!” He wrapped the towel around Marinette's shoulders. 

“I’m fine, Adrien.”

“Do we have more towels?” Nino grabbed one and tossed it to him. Adrien put it over Marinette’s head. 

Marinette pushed it out of her face. “Adrien.”

“Oh no, you’re bleeding!” Adrien caught her elbow in his hand and inspected it. “I am so sorry, let me-”

“Adrien!” Marinette wrenched her elbow out of his grasp. 

He froze and looked at her, his wet hair falling in his eyes. Her gaze softened. “I’m okay. I just swallowed a lot of water.”

Adrien winced. “I’m really sorry.”

You don’t need to apologize. It wasn’t your fault. We both got pushed in.”

“You’re not mad?”

Marinette frowned. “Of course not. It was an accident.” Maybe she needed to work on controlling her temper if he thought she would get mad at him for something like this.

“Oh.” Adrien stood up and offered her a hand. Marinette took it, battling a strange sense of deja vu.

“If it helps, I’m surprised it was you who fell on Marinette and not the other way around.”

Marinette pretended to scowl at Alya, though it was too true for her to be annoyed. “What is this, pick on Marinette day?”

“That was a pretty epic fall. A shame no one else saw it.” Nino said helpfully.

Marinette shook her head at them and then looked down at herself. “Wow. My clothes are soaked. I’ll guess I should head home now.”

“Do you want a ride?” Adrien offered.

“Nah, I’ll walk.”

“Uh, no way, girl.” Alya interrupted. “You are not walking home in dripping wet clothes.”

“I’ll be fine. It’s pretty warm out.”

“You’re shivering.” Adrien pointed out.

“No I’m not,” Marinette protested, though she definitely was.

“Girl, don’t even.” Alya said, exasperated.

Marinette turned to Adrien. “I don’t want to make you leave early, though.”

“That’s not a good enough reason to walk home soaking wet.”

“They’re right, dudette.” Nino said. “We don’t want you to get sick. Let Adrien take you home.”

Adrien smirked. “Looks like you’re outnumbered, Marinette.” he picked up her purse and handed it to her. Let me get changed and I’ll meet you outside.” he left before she could argue.

Marinette sighed. She supposed it wasn’t the worst thing in the world, though he sure was doing a lot for her today. It was just one disaster after another.

“What is going on over there?” she asked Alya, gesturing to the rest of their classmates as a lifeguard marched over and started to tell them off for roughhousing.

Alya rolled her eyes and moved to stand behind Marinette, reaching for her hair. “Who knows? I don’t even think anyone else noticed when they knocked you guys into the pool.”

Marinette laughed. “Of course they didn’t.”

Alya hummed, gently pulling out Marinette’s pigtails and combing out her tangled hair with her fingers. “So, tell me, Marinette. Did you really forget your swimsuit?”

“Yes!” Only because she hadn’t been planning on joining her class, but Alya didn’t need to know that. She was depressingly clumsy and absent-minded, but it did make a good excuse for things like this. 

\---

Adrien glanced around the empty locker room, then beckoned Plagg out of his bag.“Thank goodness Marinette’s not mad at me.”

“What did you do this time?”

“I got bumped and we both fell into the pool.” 

Plagg shuddered. “Glad I wasn’t there for that. I hate getting wet.”

“I don’t get it.” Adrien said, pulling a shirt over his head. “Most of the time she seems perpetually annoyed at me for reasons I can’t comprehend, then I literally knock her into the water and she isn’t mad at all.” He shrugged on his jacket and held it open for Plagg. “I was so sure I messed up, then it turns out I didn’t?”

“Who knows? Women are a mystery. You should try cheese.” Adrien sighed and shook his head at him. “Oh,” Plagg added, as an afterthought. “I also found your phone. It’s in the outside pocket of your bag.”

“Huh, Adrien said, pulling it out. “I could have sworn I checked in there.” He texted his bodyguard to come pick him up early, then walked outside. He found Marinette standing at the curb.

Her damp hair was a tangled mess around her shoulders. Her makeup was running around red eyes, bloodshot from the chlorine. Her arms were wrapped around herself, and she was definitely shivering. Wet clothes in a breeze could not be comfortable.

Adrien frowned. “Are you cold? No, don’t answer that. You’re cold.” He shrugged off his jacket and handed it to her. 

Marinette blinked up at him in surprise. She looked like she wanted to protest, but instead hesitantly took it and put it on. “Thanks. Oh, it’s warm.”

They stood in awkward silence until Adrien’s car arrived. Adrien opened the door for Marinette, then hopped in himself and updated his bodyguard.

The drive home was just as awkward as the wait. Adrien wanted to say something, but Marinette was slouched in her seat and avoiding his eyes. He didn’t think she was in the mood to talk. At least she was warmer now. No. She was in his car. He had to talk to her. Then he remembered Chloé. _The best way to get a girl obsessed with you is to make her jealous._ But how? He looked around and his gaze landed on his bag. Which also happened to be his fencing bag. And he got an idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Introducing: Chloé’s awful dating advice. Adrien, honey, listen to your other best friend. The one that actually has a girlfriend.
> 
> I really don’t want to see any comments suggesting that the harassment was in any way, shape, or form Marinette’s fault. Doesn’t matter if she shouldn’t have been in the boy’s locker room. I do not tolerate victim blaming. If you are the victim of sexual assault or harassment, please tell someone and get help. You are not alone, and you are not at fault. Sexual crimes are _never_ justified.


	8. Chapter 8

“What do you think about Adrien?” 

Marinette looked up from her smoothie, startled by the sudden change in subject. “You know what I think about Adrien.” she said, confused.

“I know. I’m just asking.” Alya stirred her milkshake casually. “I mean, you did spend a lot of time with him yesterday. And last week. Maybe that’s changed?”

Marinette suddenly understood. She knew Alya was friends with Adrien, though she had assumed that was mostly because she was dating Nino. She could appreciate wanting all your friends to get along.

“I don’t dislike him, if that’s what you mean,” Marinette said. When Alya raised her eyebrows, she continued. “Yes, I didn’t like him very much before, but I guess he’s not all bad. I mean, he was really nice yesterday, giving me a ride home.” Even though she had been really uncomfortable being alone in a car with him, at least until Adrien asked her for advice about Kagami. It definitely improved her opinion of him knowing that he was interested in someone, though he still flirted abundantly. Marinette had gleefully pressed for details. She and Kagami were the kind of friends that didn’t actually know each other that well or hang out very often, but always hit it off when they did hang out. They had met during the Friendship Day game that she participated in every year. It was Kagami’s first time participating, but after the initial awkwardness of meeting someone new, they were breezing through the clues. They still met up for juice sometimes, and Marinette knew for a fact that she had a crush on Adrien, her fencing partner.

“So, do you think you guys will be friends now?” Alya asked, bringing Marinette out of her thoughts and back to the cafe where they were hanging out. “Or maybe… more than friends?”

“What? No!”

“I’m just saying, he’s pretty hot. And single.”

Marinette gaped at her. That was so not subtle. The only thing she could think to say was, “He likes someone else.”

Alya frowned. “What? He does?”

“Yeah. He asked me for advice about it yesterday.”

“Huh.” Marinette couldn’t quite decipher the look in Alya’s eye. “Besides,” she continued. “Just because he gave me a ride yesterday doesn’t mean we’re suddenly going to be besties. He’s still kind of condescending, and won’t stand up to Chloé when she’s bullying people.” Marinette suddenly remembered the confrontation in the locker room yesterday. He had certainly come through then. Marinette frowned, conflicted. So he wasn’t a total pushover, okay. Maybe he just had a harder time standing up to people he knew? 

The way Alya was looking at her, it seemed she could sense her inner confusion. Marinette pushed through. “You can’t just stand by and watch that stuff happen. It enables them.”

Alya shrugged. “I mean, the kid’s been homeschooled his whole life with his father as a role model and Chloé as his only friend. I’d be grateful it isn’t worse.”

Marinette snorted. “Great reason to make a friend. ‘At least he isn’t worse.’”

“I’m just saying, Chloé’s been his only friend for his entire life. I think he’s just too nice to throw her under the bus.”

“If you say so. I think he’s too spineless.” Too afraid of losing his friends to stand up for other people, maybe?

Suddenly, Marinette remembered a conversation she had had with Kagami over juice one weekend.

“I’ve been akumatized before,” Kagami had told her.

Marinette knew already, but pretended not to anyway. “Really? Do you want to talk about it?” Some people gushed about being a supervillain and being saved by Ladybug and Chat Noir, while others preferred to not talk about it.

“The first time was when I tried out for the fencing club. Mr. D’argencourt told me I could join if I beat Adrien.” Marinette had listened intently. She had never heard this side of the story, just remembered having to protect Adrien from Riposte. “It was a really close match, but Mr. D’argencourt gave the win to Adrien. I got upset, and turned into a supervillain. But after Ladybug and Chat Noir saved me, Adrien wasn’t mad at me at all. He told me he thought the point was mine, and offered to do the match over again. And anyone who could tell me that after I had just tried to kill them…” Kagami trailed off.

Marinette had reached over and put a comforting hand on her arm, making Kagami look up in surprise. She probably wasn’t used to being touched very often. “That wasn’t you. That was Hawkmoth taking advantage of you.”

Kagami had smiled gratefully at her, and they had moved on. Marinette hadn’t thought about it much. But now she was wondering if she had completely missed the point of the story.

She didn’t have time to dwell on it, though, because a supervillain appeared, yelling and shooting things and generally causing chaos. Marinette ducked under their table and tried to pull Alya down with her, but Alya took out her phone and was gone, yelling back at Marinette to stay safe.

Marinette shook her head at her best friend. Tikki opened the clasp of her purse. “Spots on?” the kwami asked. 

“I can’t,” Marinette said, looking around at the other customers taking cover around her. “Someone will see.” Peeking out, she saw that Chat Noir had arrived and was fighting the supervillain. Which was great and all, but now the supervillain wasn’t going to move on and let her find another hiding spot. She’d have to make a break for it. 

With one last look around, Marinette darted out from under the table and ran for the nearest alley. She almost made it, too. Right as she got to the entrance, she turned to see if anyone was watching her, and found a signpost flying towards her. Marinette closed her eyes and put her arms up to brace herself, knowing it was too late to dodge. 

There was a metallic clang, and Marinette’s eyes snapped open-to see a back clad in black leather. “Chat Noir!” she gasped.

He turned to face her, concern in his cat-like eyes. “Are you okay?”

Face to face with her crush as Marinette rather than Ladybug, her words failed her. Instead of answering, she pointed mutely over his shoulder at the supervillain, who was charging toward them while Chat’s back was turned. Now that she was closer, Marinette could see that he was dressed like an army general or something. Chat Noir whipped back around and met the supervillain with his baton. “Better scat, Marinette. I’ll take care of this.”

Marinette backed away. Could she get far enough down the alley that Chat and the supervillain wouldn’t be able to see her? She turned to run-

And made it about ten meters before she reached the end of the alley, which dead-ended apparently. She used alleys enough as Ladybug you’d think she’d know them well enough by now. But Paris was big.

“Marinette? You need to run!” Chat yelled.

“I can’t! It’s a dead-end!” Marinette yelled back, looking around desperately, then turning to watch Chat Noir fight off the supervillain. The supervillain, who was yelling things in what sounded like Spanish, was keeping Chat cornered, but he wasn’t giving any ground. He parried a blow with his baton, knocking the supervillain into a pile of trash cans by the side door of a restaurant. The cans fell easily and scattered. They were empty. Suddenly Marinette had an idea. 

“Chat!” She said, bending down to pick up some rocks. She didn’t want to distract him, but she needed to tell him her plan without the supervillain catching on. 

“I know! I’m working on it!”

“Not that!”

Chat turned to look at her, and Marinette kicked a trash can and gave him a meaningful look, for a moment forgetting that she wasn’t Ladybug. Hoping he understood, she did something really dumb. She yelled and hurled her rocks at the supervillain, grabbing its attention. “Hey dummy! Leave the cat alone!” 

The supervillain said something she didn’t understand (she didn’t speak Spanish) and stalked towards her. As soon as they turned their back on Chat Noir, he grabbed the nearest trash can and wedged it over the supervillain’s head, buying him enough time to extend his baton and throw the supervillain from the alley. “That’ll teach him to mess with an alley cat,” Chat Noir said proudly. Then he ran toward Marinette and threw an arm around her waist. She wrapped her arms around his neck automatically.

“What-ah!” Marinette gasped as Chat used his baton to lift them to the rooftops and took off running. “Don’t you need to go fight the supervillain?”

“I can get you to safety first. Ladybug will take care of it.” He flashed her a grin. “In case you were wondering, this is why Paris has two superheroes.” 

Marinette’s insides fluttered. She wished she could let him take her all the way to safety, or wherever he was going, but there was the small detail that she _was_ Ladybug. “I think we’re far enough away now,” she said, looking around as the buildings passed. “You can just leave me here.”

Instead of stopping and putting her down, Chat used his baton to propel them into the air. Marinette squealed and wrapped her legs around his waist. It felt very different when she wasn’t the one with superpowers. Embarrassed at her reaction, she blushed.

Chat chuckled as he landed on a roof across the street, a deep sound that Marinette felt where her body touched his own, and shifted so that he was carrying her bridal style. “Don’t worry. I won’t let you fall.”

Marinette knew he wouldn’t. She trusted him with her life. She trusted him more than anyone. For just a moment, she let herself wonder who he was beneath the mask. Who was he, when he wasn’t Chat Noir? Then she pushed those thoughts aside. No use in wondering. She’d just drive herself crazy. They had to keep their identities a secret.

“You live at the Tom and Sabine bakery, right?”

“Um, yeah.” He remembered where she lived! “But you can just put me down here,” she said regretfully. “I know the way back.”

“Nope, I’m taking you home. Don’t argue with me,” he warned when Marinette opened her mouth to protest. “ _Someone_ decided to make themselves a target, and I’m taking no chances.”

“Wait, the supervillain is after me?” Marinette wracked her brain, trying to think of anyone she had pissed off recently.

“You _did_ provoke him. Which I should discourage, given that I’m the superhero, and all that, but… that was very _claw_ -ver of you, Marinette. You make a very _fur_ -midable opponent.”

Marinette looked up at him. He wasn’t looking at her, he was watching the approaching bakery, but despite the puns, there was something in his voice that had never been there when she was Ladybug.

With one last leap, Chat landed in a crouch on her balcony, then straightened and gently set her on her feet. “You’ll be safe here, Princess,” he said, climbing to sit like a cat on her balcony.

“Wait, Chat Noir!” Marinette lunged forward and grabbed his tail before he could leave. He turned to face her, and she blushed and dropped his tail. “Um, thank you.” she said, meeting his eyes. “Stay safe.”

He smiled at her. “And you try not to antagonize any more supervillains.” With that, he gave her one last heart-melting grin, then leapt backwards off the balcony. 

Marinette watched him go, placing a hand over her heart. “He called me Princess,” she said dreamily. “Did you hear that, Tikki? He called me Princess again!” 

“Focus, Marinette!”

\---

Chat Noir breathed a sigh of relief when Ladybug landed next to him on the street and held out a hand to help him up. Chat gratefully took it and staggered to his feet. This supervillain was ridiculously good at fighting. Chat Noir had already taken several hits. Though, it might have been partly because he was distracted, replaying in his mind the way Marinette had clung to him as he-

“Need a helping hand?” Ladybug teased, bringing him out of his head. 

“Yeah,” Chat admitted gratefully. “This one’s a tough one.” 

“What’s it do?” Ladybug moved into a fighting stance as the supervillain came into view, running towards them. Chat copied her.

“Mostly fighting. But he’s good. His weapons keep returning to him.”

“Of course they do,” Ladybug sighed. “So the akuma won’t be in any of his weapons.”

“Nope,” Chat agreed cheerfully, launching himself back at the supervillain for the umpteenth time. “His name seems to be _El Commandante_ , which I think is the Commander in French, but besides that, I have no idea what he’s saying. Unless you speak Spanish?”

“No can do, kitty,” Ladybug said, blocking a blow with her yoyo and ducking another.

Chat aimed a blow for the supervillain’s head, but he easily parried it with his sword. Chat swung again. The Commander caught his baton with one hand, yanked it out of his grasp, and was about to toss it away, but instead roared and turned towards Ladybug, who had just yanked something off his person-a medal. She broke it underneath her foot, but no butterfly came out. 

“Huh,” Ladybug said, snagging Chat’s baton with her yoyo and tossing it to him.

“Now what?” he asked, launching himself into the fight again.

“Trial and error, I guess,” Ladybug replied. 

The Commander was on his guard, though. Ladybug and Chat Noir both made several attempts to snatch something else off of his person, but he was deafening himself better now. Whenever they did break something, a black butterfly never came out. 

“This isn’t working,” Ladybug said, obviously frustrated, after they had retreated a few blocks away to come up with a plan. 

“Yep, we keep getting _foil_ -ed.” Chat agreed. Ladybug didn’t even notice the pun, she was so deep in thought. “Lucky Charm?” he suggested.

“We don’t know where the akuma is, though.”

“Well, we’re getting nowhere like this.” Chat was suddenly struck with a thought, but he didn’t really know how to approach it with Ladybug. “Are you going to go get a miraculous?”

Ladybug glanced at him, surprised. “I don’t know.”

“Isn’t this when you’d normally go get one?”

“Well, I normally go get one because my Lucky Charm gives me something that reminds me of Master Fu.”

“But you’re the guardian now.”

“Mmhmm,” Ladybug contemplated her yoyo, then threw it up in the air. “Lucky Charm!” A spotted pinwheel fell into her outstretched hand. “Huh,” she said, blowing on it and making it spin. 

“Does it remind you of...um, yourself?” Chat asked.

“Not really.” She looked around briefly. “I have no idea what to do with this.”

“Maybe you should go get another miraculous anyway.” Chat suggested. 

Ladybug raised an eyebrow at him. Yep, she was definitely onto him. “Do you have someone in mind? Because we can’t use any of the old heroes, and I can’t think of anyone new.”

“What about Marinette?” Chat said hopefully.

Ladybug blinked. “She revealed her identity, too.” she reminded him gently. 

“Yes,” Chat argued, “but only to me. Ms. Mendeliev didn’t see. Hawkmoth doesn’t know who she is.”

It might have been his imagination, but he thought Ladybug’s cheeks tinged pink. “W-well, I don’t know, kitty. It would take a while to…” Ladybug’s eyes suddenly widened at something over his shoulder. “Ooh,” she breathed. 

“Milady?” Chat turned around, but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Something had caught her attention, though.

“Hold this.” Ladybug said, thrusting the pinwheel into his hands. “Get the supervillain over here.” she sprinted away.

“Sure thing. Just hope this plan isn’t full of hot air.” Chat said, then, because no one was watching, he blew on the pinwheel. Maybe he could swing using one of these on his next photoshoot, rather than a lollipop.

“Pound it!” 

“I’m serious about using Multimouse, you know,” Chat said before Ladybug could run off. “I saw her today, before you showed up.”

“Uh, you did?”

“Yeah, and she helped me get away from the supervillain. She kind of reminds me of you, actually.” He didn’t notice Ladybug’s eyes widen. “She thinks so well on her feet. I just think we’d all work really well together.”

“Chat, she-”

“I _know_ she revealed her identity, but only to me! I don’t know how much you saw, but she kicked butt when she was Multimouse. She was so good, Kwamibuster didn’t even see her.” It really looked like Ladybug was blushing. It was getting kind of dark though. It must just be her suit. Chat suddenly realized that he was getting kind of worked up. It made so much sense, though, to have Marinette be a superhero again. She was definitely capable.

Ladybug cleared her throat. “I, uh, wow.” Her earrings beeped shrilly. “I have the go. I mean, I have to go.”

“Just think about it.” Chat said, trying not to sound too desperate. “In case we do need help.”

Ladybug nodded at him and hastily swung away, disappearing against the darkening sky. Chat watched her go. Now that he’d thought of it, he knew it would keep nagging at him. He didn’t know why he hadn’t realized before, but out of all the mind-controlled superheroes he and Dragon Bug had fought the day she had become the guardian, Multimouse hadn’t been one of them. He supposed that was because Ladybug had told her Marinette wouldn’t be given a miraculous again, so she didn’t consider herself a miraculous holder. However it happened, though, Chat knew that Marinette made an awesome Mouse, and he was sure Ladybug would agree.

\---

Alya had a couple of phone calls she needed to make.

However, neither Adrien nor Marinette was picking up the phone. So Alya flopped onto the bed and wondered what to do. She’d come home after a while, even though the akuma alert was still in effect. There were limits to how long she would run around chasing superheroes, especially ones who didn’t like staying in one place. She wondered briefly if Ladybug would maybe come find her to give her her miraculous- then she remembered. 

It was rough, knowing that she might not ever get to be Rena Rouge again, but she understood why. It was also hard to justify getting upset over it, considering that the reason she was compromised was that Chloé had gotten upset over that exact thing. Ladybug and Chat Noir had come around to everyone a few days later, explaining the situation, though Alya and the rest of the temporary miraculous holders had figured out what was going to have to happen anyway. Hawkmoth knew their identities. So for now-no more miraculous. They still held out hope, though. Ladybug hadn’t said anything about it, but Paris didn’t know their identities, so there was still a chance, however how slim.

Alya’s eyes snapped open as her phone rang, and she snatched it up. _Adrien Agreste_. 

“Hey.”

_“Hi. Did you call?”_

“Yep.” Alya sat up so he could see her face on the screen better. “I have a bone to pick with you.”

_“Uh oh. Am I in trouble?”_

“Did you tell Marinette you liked another girl?”

_“Um… maybe?”_

“ _Do_ you like another girl?”

_“No…”_

“Adrien! Why on earth did you think that was even remotely a good idea?”

_“Well…”_

“Trying to make Marinette jealous isn’t going to work here, and it’s not fair to whoever you said you liked. Frankly, that was kind of a dick move.”

Adrien winced, _“I didn’t think of that.”_

“Obviously.” Alya felt a little bad for the guy. Maybe she should lay off a bit.

_“It’s just, Chloé said-”_

“Chloé said? When has listening to Chloé ever turned out well?”

_“That’s… a fair point. But Chloé’s not so bad.”_

Alya waved him off. “Yeah, yeah. Point is, was Marinette suddenly drooling over you when you told her about your supposed ‘crush’?”

Adrien scrunched up his brow. _“I don’t know.”_

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

_“I mean I don’t know! She seemed really… tense, when I was driving her home. But then I started asking her for advice and she looked so much more relaxed. She even got excited about it.”_

Alya rubbed her forehead, trying to think. Had Marinette really been that uncomfortable being alone with Adrien? “See, that was the opposite of what you were going for.” 

_“Maybe. But- it was so nice, being able to talk to her like that. If that’s what it takes to make her actually like talking to me-”_

“Oh no, Mister. I see where you’re going. That’s a bad idea.”

_“Why?”_

“What part of ‘that’s not fair to the girl you said you liked’ didn’t you understand?”

_“Okay, I shouldn’t have done that. I get it. I’ll make it right. But, maybe I should try starting small?”_

Alya thought about this for a second. “You mean, getting Marinette to stop actively avoiding having contact with you before you try to ask her out? You have a point there.”

Adrien nodded.

“But you need to fix this mess you put yourself in.”

_“Yes, ma’am.”_

Alya hung up. That had certainly given her a lot to think about. But first, she needed to see if Marinette was answering her phone now.

_“Hi, Alya!”_

“Marinette! Girl, are you okay? Why haven’t you been answering me? I saw you get cornered by that supervillain.”

Marinette’s face lit up. _“Yeah, did you see Chat Noir save me?”_ She sighed, the same look on her face that always came up when they talked about him. _“Chat. Noir. Saved. Me. This is the best day of my life!”_

“Where’d he take you? I saw him grab you and run.”

_“All the way home! He remembered where I lived! He’s so great.”_

Alya leaned her back against the wall and fondly listened as Marinette continued to gush about Chat Noir. At least her bestie was okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Teeheehee- how’s Marinette gonna get out of this one?
> 
> I promise I had a real and clever plan for the pinwheel, but I cut it because this chapter ended up being really long.


	9. Chapter 9

Adrien scowled at the hopelessly tangled lights he held in his hands. He’d been trying to get them straightened out for the past ten minutes, without much luck. “Do you think you could help me with this?” he asked Chloè, who was sitting across from him, looking at her phone. 

Chloè didn’t even look up. “And ruin these nails? I think not.” 

Adrien sighed and pulled at another cord, but that only seemed to make the knots tighter. He looked around for someone else that could help him. Juleka, Rose, and Sabrina were blowing up balloons, Myléne and Ivan were sorting tablecloths, and Nino, Alya, and Alix were wrestling with streamers. Nathanael was working on a sign in the corner, with Marinette at his shoulder, holding a clipboard, and Kim and Max had run off to grab something Marinette had forgotten at the bakery.

“Oh for goodness sakes, how hard is it to untangle some lights?” Chloè snapped, standing up and stalking off. “Sabrina!”

Adrien sighed. Chloè had insisted weeks ago that she should be in charge of planning Ms. Bustier’s baby shower, even though everyone knew she wouldn’t actually do any work. Adrien was pretty sure she just liked bossing people around. Marinette had vetoed that immediately, and nominated herself as class representative to organize everything. Now she was flitting back and forth between groups, checking on their progress, though she had yet to come over to Adrien.

“Hi, Adrien,” said a singsong voice behind him. Adrien was proud of himself for not flinching as a small body slid onto the seat next to him. “What are you doing?”

“Hi, Lila. I’m just trying to untangle these lights.”

She giggled and put a hand on his shoulder, leaning in as if to look at them better. “Well, it looks like a lost cause to me.”

“Weren’t you too busy to help today?” Adrien asked pointedly. “Doing charity work or something? Or was it a doctor’s appointment?” He was kind of annoyed at her obvious lie to get out of helping. Everyone else had given up their lunch break and free period to help Marinette organize the decorations. Even Chloè, though she wasn’t doing much. 

If Lila noticed his skepticism, she ignored it. “Well, I had a sudden opening in my schedule! Isn’t it great?”

“Yeah, that’s great,” Adrien said. “Can you give me a hand with this? Or maybe go ask Marinette what you can do to help?”

“Oh, Marinette doesn’t need our help,” Lila said flippantly. “She’s perfectly capable of organizing this on her own. Let’s go get something to eat!”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Adrien said, stalling. “I haven’t finished this yet.”

Lila stood up and tugged him to his feet. “Anyone could do that. Marinette will probably take care of it later. The baby shower isn’t for two days.”

“Marinette’s got plenty of other things to do. It’s not just decorations.”

“Don’t be such a party pooper. Don’t you want to hang out with me?” Before Adrien could answer, Lila led him to the door. “I promise, you’ll thank me later, once you’ve tasted the sandwiches at that cafe down the street.”

Adrien didn’t see how he could get out of it, short of snatching his arm back and flat-out refusing to go anywhere with her. He knew that wasn’t what his father meant when he told him to be polite. But everyone else was either too busy to notice him leaving with Lila or didn’t care. Marinette was nowhere in sight.

Lila looped her arm through his and chattered as they made their way through the school. Short of pretending to go to the bathroom, Adrien was stuck. 

They had just reached the front doors when they opened and Marinette came in, balancing a couple of boxes in her arms. She saw Adrien and Lila and gave him an exasperated look that looked eerily like Chloè’s “what do you think you’re doing?” face. Adrien gave her a pleading look. She regarded him as they walked past each other, and Adrien had just resigned himself to the fact that she wasn’t going to help him when there was a yelp from behind him and the sound of heavy objects hitting the ground. 

Adrien ignored Lila’s tugging on his arm and turned around to see Marinette on the ground, the boxes in her arms having skid across the floor. 

“Oh no, Marinette!” Lila gasped, hand to her mouth, though she kept moving toward the door, hoping Adrien would follow. 

He didn’t, but instead crouched next to Marinette as she sat up, rubbing her elbow. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. You know me. Just clumsy.” she replied as she stood, and he could have sworn she winked at him, but it was hard to tell. 

“Let me help you with these,” Adrien said, and went to pick up the boxes. 

“Thanks.” Marinette went for another box, looking over at Lila, who was frowning at Adrien. “I’m glad to see you showed up to help, Lila. Can you go check on Kim and Max? I sent them to the bakery ages ago, but they must have gotten distracted.”

“Actually, Adrien and I were-”

“It’ll just take a minute.”

Lila smiled. “Of course. I’ll be right back, Adrien.” 

As soon as the door shut behind her, Marinette bolted. “Come on! She’ll be back any second, the boys weren’t far behind me.” She led him up the stairs and into the library, where she slowed to a walk and shifted the box she was carrying. 

“Thanks, Marinette.” Adrien whispered, catching the clipboard as it slipped from the top of her box and tucking it under his arm.

Marinette ducked into an aisle of bookshelves and sat down in the corner, where no one could see them. “I have a lot of practice ditching people,” she told him as he sat next to her. 

He was curious, but she didn’t elaborate. “Still, that was brilliant.”

She looked away. “I swear, half my life is spent hiding you from other people.”

Now Adrien wanted to ask about that, but then he noticed the dark circles under her eyes. “Is the other half getting spent on this party?”

“What?”

“You don’t look like you’re getting enough sleep.” Before Marinette could stop him, Adrien picked up the clipboard and flipped through it. The pages were covered in Marinette’s writing, checklists and phone numbers and reminders to talk to various people. He let out a low whistle. “This is a lot, Marinette.”

She snatched the clipboard from him. “I’m almost done with everything.”

“You could have asked us to help.”

“You mean, like making you guys do the decorations?” Marinette raised an eyebrow at him.

“I’m just saying-”

“I can handle this just fine, Sunshine.”

Adrien wavered. He wasn’t sure whether she was teasing him or not, but thought he better not push his luck. “Just, make sure you’re getting enough sleep. You don’t have to do everything yourself.”

Marinette cleared her throat. “What’s up with Lila?” she asked, changing the subject.

“She wanted to go get lunch.”

Marinette stared at him. “Did you not want to go get lunch with her? I thought you guys were friends.”

Adrien hesitated a second to long before responding.

“Oh my god. Does she do that a lot? Drag you around places you don’t want to go?”

“It’s not a big deal. We’re just hanging out, as friends.”

“That’s not hanging out as friends,” Marinette said flatly.

“But, Chloe-”

“No offense,” Marinette said, in a way that implied that she did indeed mean offense, “but Chloè’s not the best person to base your relationships off of.” Marinette rubbed her forehead. “I can’t believe I didn’t notice this before.” 

Adrien watched her mutely. It seemed that for once, she wasn’t upset with him, but he still had no idea what to do.

“You shouldn’t have to put up with that if it’s making you uncomfortable.”

“It’s not her fault, she just-”

“Don’t defend her.” Marinette snapped.

Adrien shut his mouth, remembering all too clearly what happened the last time they argued about Lila.

“Why wasn’t I paying more attention?” Marinette said to herself. “I should have noticed.”

“It’s not your fault,” Adrien said.

“Of course it is. This whole time I’ve been railing on everyone else for not picking up on Lila’s lies and now I’m realizing I never noticed that she was harassing you. I’m such an idiot!”

Adrien looked around nervously. Marinette’s voice was getting kind of loud for a library. “Okay, first of all, calm down-”

“Don’t tell me to calm down,” Marinette said sharply, though she was back to whispering. 

Adrien backpedaled. “All I meant was, you don’t need to get mad on my behalf. She’s not harassing me.”

Marinette started counting off on her fingers. “She touches you without permission. Stop interrupting me! I’ve seen her touch your chest, your hand, your shoulder, your arm, and you obviously would rather she not. She tries to be alone with you, she takes you places you don’t want to go… what else? Oh! The selfie!”

“The what?”

“That picture where she was kissing you on the cheek. What happened?”

“Oh, yeah. That wasn’t a big deal. She came over to my house so I could help her with her homework, and-”

“Did you invite her?”

“Um…” Adrien frowned, trying to remember. “She was the one who suggested it, I think.”

“Did you agree?”

“Not really, but-”

“Okay, she invited herself over to your house. Did you actually do homework?”

“No, she asked me about a lot of the stuff in my room, then Nathalie told her she had to go, and she took the picture.”

“Did she ask first?”

“Yes, actually.”

“Did she let you answer?”

“No, but-”

“Exactly.” Marinette shook her head. “It’s so obvious. I can’t believe I assumed-ugh. Why didn’t you say anything?”

Adrien scratched the back of his neck. “It’s not a big deal. I’m used to it. My father just tells me to be polite.” 

Marinette gaped at him. “Seriously?” she asked quietly. “He tells you that?” she shook her head. “Adrien, it _is_ a big deal. Just because you’re a celebrity doesn’t mean you have to deal with that kind of stuff.” 

“I don’t want to make waves.”

“No, none of that. You need to tell her that you’re not interested in her and that she needs to back off. Does she know you like Kagami?”

Adrien stiffened. “I don’t know," he said after a second. “Did-did you tell Kagami anything?”

Marinette looked at him funny. “No. Do you not want me to?”

“Well, the thing is, I-” Adrien stopped. He had no idea what to say. Was he just supposed to tell Marinette he lied to her? She hated liars. 

Marinette was looking at him expectantly. He had to say something.

Adrien cleared his throat. “It’s complicated,” he said quietly.

Marinette’s eyes crinkled in concern. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Um, there’s not much to talk about.” Adrien suddenly became very aware of Marinette’s proximity. They weren’t sitting that close, but they were hiding together. “Kagami’s amazing, but sometimes it’s hard to know if it would work out.”

“If you asked her out, I’m sure she would say yes.”

“That’s not what I mean. I mean, it’s hard to know if my feelings for her are what I think they are. And- I don’t think it’s fair to her for me to pursue a relationship without knowing for sure.”

Marinette regarded him seriously, and suddenly everything about this felt wrong. Though everything he had just said was true, he still felt guilty of lying by omission. When had they gotten on this topic, again? He shouldn’t be talking about another girl with the one he loved.

“I think I get it,” Marinette said after a moment. “I’ve been there. And... that’s really mature of you,” Marinette told him after a moment. 

Inside Adrien glowed at the praise, but he pretended to be offended, crossing his arms. “You don’t have to sound so surprised.”

Marinette rolled her eyes, then brought her hand up to stifle a yawn.

“We should go down and help finish up so you can go home and sleep.” Adrien said, concerned.

Marinette waved him off. “I’m fine. But you’re right, we should go help if Lila’s gone.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Adrien insisted as they stood up and left the library. “I can deal with Lila.”

“The same way you’ve been ‘dealing’ with her for weeks?” Marinette shook her head, and when Adrien looked over, he saw that her fists were clenched and her face was flushed. “You do that, Sunshine. But I am 100% done with that girl. If you’re not going to stand up for yourself, I’ll do it for you.” They reached the room where the rest of their class was working. “I’m not done with you, Agreste,” she told him. “I’m just too exhausted to argue about this anymore right now.” And with that, she swept into the room, where she was immediately caught back up in party planning.

Adrien looked around. Lila was nowhere to be seen. Maybe Marinette would forget about it.

\---

Marinette did not forget about it. She helped with finishing up the decorations, and assigned people to be in charge of bringing them to the park on the day of the baby shower, but the whole time, she alternating between seething over Lila and berating herself for not noticing anything sooner. She didn’t even like the girl! She had never liked Lila, and yet she had overlooked her behavior with Adrien the same way everyone else overlooked her fabricated stories. Marinette was disgusted with herself.

So when everything was finally finished and packed up, and the class filed into Ms. Bustier’s room, and Lila ran up and gave Adrien a big hug and a kiss on the cheek, Marinette’s simmering anger, at Lila for manipulating her friends and at herself for letting it happen, hardened. 

“Give him some space, Lila.” she snapped.

Adrien shook his head at her, but she ignored him. 

“What was that, Marinette?” Lila asked innocently, but there was a trace of a warning in her tone.

Marinette ignored it. “Oh I’m sorry, is your tinnitus acting up?” she shot back, raising her voice. “I said, _give him some space_.” 

The class’s chatter gradually fell silent as they turned to watch the stand-off happening at the front of the class.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Lila said, clutching Adrien’s arm and making him wince slightly. 

“Since you need me to spell it out for you; let go of Adrien, walk over to your seat, and sit down.”

“But why? I don’t understand,” Lila said, looking around with wide eyes. Most of the class seemed as baffled as she was, and Alya shot Marinette a “what on earth are you doing?” look.

“Why?” Marinette scoffed. “Because it’s harassment.”

And with that bombshell, the entire class erupted.

“Lila wouldn't harass anybody!”

“What’s going on with you, Marinette?”

“Chill out, it’s just a hug.”

Marinette looked at Adrien pointedly. And they stared off while the class chattered around them. Marinette won, and Adrien said, loud enough for the class to hear. “Please let go of me, Lila.”

To Marinette’s surprise, Lila did-only for her to wrap her arms around Adrien’s waist and lean her head against his chest.

“I’m sorry, we’re just such good friends-”

“Yeah, they’re friends!”

“It doesn’t matter if they’re friends, Kim.” Alya said, smacking Kim on the back of the head.

Max looked up from his phone. “Statistically, most sexual assault comes from a friend or acquaintance.”

Marinette looked up at them, surprised. She hadn’t really expected anyone to be on her side this quickly - but Alya was her best friend, and preventing harassment was a cause she could get behind. And Max could always be counted on to look at things logically.

“Can I have some space, Lila?” Adrien asked, still polite, but firmer this time. 

“I’m sorry everyone,” Lila said, eyes downcast. “It’s just- I’m just trying to be affectionate with my friends. Is that so wrong?”

The class murmured, and Marinette knew she had to play her cards carefully. No getting hot-headed like she normally did. Lila was _really_ good at getting the upper hand and taking advantage of a conversation that didn’t go her way.

“Oh, of course, Lila,” Marinette said sweetly. “But now you know that it’s making Adrien uncomfortable, so you’re going to stop, right?”

Lila glared at Marinette, but seemed to realize she was trapped. Her grip on Adrien loosened, and he wasted no time in unwrapping her arms from around him and retreating to sit next to Nino.

Marinette nodded once and went to her own seat as Ms. Bustier walked into the class and apologized for being a little late. It wasn’t enough. She wanted to call Lila out on everything she’s ever done wrong, to list all the times Lila’s cornered Adrien and call out every lie she ever told. But she’d tried that. And every single time, Lila had an answer, and Marinette had ended up looking like the fool. If she wanted to expose her for real this time, she had to switch tactics and beat Lila at her own game. Her friends were smart. Hopefully, if she started small, her classmates would pick it up.

Alya leaned over to her under the cover of her bookbag and whispered, “Girl, what was that?”

“What do you mean?”

“I have never, not even once, seen you defend Adrien.”

“I wasn’t defending Adrien,” Marinette sniffed. “I was defending all victims of sexual harassment.”

But now she was listening to the whispers of other clandestine conversations around her. And her classmates seemed equally baffled as to why she was suddenly defending the guy. Some though she was just that nice. Others thought she just had a mysterious grudge against Lila that took precedence over her dislike of Adrien and Chloè. 

But it didn’t matter what they thought. She hadn’t been dismissed this time. Maybe it would help them realize that Marinette was serious about everything she’d ever said about Lila.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone knows the actual statistic for sexual assault from a friend or acquaintance, let me know. I remember hearing it but couldn’t find it and didn’t want to report false information.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short-ish chapter, but a lot happens, and the last one was kinda long.

Adrien fiddled with his ring as he watched Alya pace the floor of Nino’s bedroom. 

“What did I _literally_ tell you?”

Adrien hunched lower in his seat. “That I needed to tell Marinette I don’t actually like Kagami?”

“Exactly! But obviously you forgot, even though it happened not three days ago, because there’s no way you would let Marinette actually act on that lie, _right?_ ” 

“I know, I know, it was dumb.”

“I’ll say. You’re damn lucky Nino and I were there. What if Kagami had gotten akumatized? Did you think of that? No? Of course not.”

“I didn’t think-”

“That’s the problem!” Alya said, ceasing her pacing and turning to face him. “You never think when it comes to Marinette. You can’t _do_ this, Adrien. You can’t pretend to like Kagami while getting jealous of Luka over Marinette. Mixed signals, much?”

Adrien winced. For once, he kind of agreed with Plagg. Feelings were confusing. Was there a how-to manual or something? He and Kagami had stopped by the Couffaine houseboat earlier that day after fencing to watch Kitty Section practice, to find Marinette, Alya, Nino, and Myléne also there. Marinette had immediately gone into matchmaker mode, subtly arranging it so Adrien and Kagami were always sitting next to each other. Adrien had let her, even though it meant that with a houseboat practically swarming with other couples, Luka and Marinette had ended up getting a lot closer than he would have liked. 

Luckily, Nino came to his rescue. Kind of. “Babe, I got this,” he told his girlfriend.

“Good,” Alya huffed, plopping onto Nino’s bed. “See if you can knock some sense into him.”

Nino turned to Adrien. “Dude, we get it. You like getting attention from Marinette, especially because you got on her bad side on the first day of school.”

“Don’t remind me,” Adrien muttered, wondering if he was really that obvious.

“But,” Nino continued, “trust me, this is not the kind of attention you want. First of all, she was trying to set you up with someone else, which is a huge red flag. And second, you have to consider Kagami.”

“Kagami?”

“She likes you. You know she likes you. And the entire afternoon, you had eyes only for Marinette.”

Adrien’s brow creased. “Why does that matter?”

“Because,” Alya said, crossing her arms. “What Kagami saw was the guy she likes avoiding getting set up with her and getting jealous over another girl. And to top it off, this guy she likes has been leading her on by sometimes flirting with her when no one else is around.”

Adrien’s insides squirmed with guilt. “I wasn’t trying to lead her on.”

“She doesn’t know that.”

Nino sighed. “Do you see the problem here?” he asked.

“I’m starting to,” Adrien mumbled.

“Silly, convoluted plots are great, and all that-”

“You mean awesome,” Alya interrupted.

“-but only to a certain extent. You got yourself into a pretty big mess, and you can count yourself lucky that we could distract Marinette long enough for you to smooth things over with Kagami. But at some point, you need to start just being yourself and trust that that will be enough.”

Adrien looked back and forth between Alya and Nino. Alya still looked a little pissed off at him - but they both looked sincere, too. “Okay. I understand.” On a whim, he leaned forward and wrapped them both in a hug. “Thank you so much. You guys are the best.”

“For coaching you through that minefield of a band rehearsal?”

“For everything.”

Adrien blushed a little as they all pulled apart, but Nino and Alya didn’t look embarrassed or awkward at all.

“So, what’s the moral of this story?” Alya asked.

“Um, that I should always listen to you the first time?”

“No. Well, yes.” she amended. “But also that you should be yourself.” 

“And never, ever take advice from Chloe,” Nino added.

\---

Lila was angry. 

Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She didn’t know when to just leave it alone. Sooner or later, Marinette would score a direct hit, and the stories Lila had so carefully crafted would come crashing down, along with any chance she had with Adrien. Yesterday had been a close call.

Yes, Lila was angry. And her plan today was rushed, she would admit. She hadn’t informed Mr. Agreste of her plan, although he had encouraged the downfall of one Marinette Dupain-Cheng. But she had to pay. For running off with Adrien when Lila had specifically warned her to stay away. For getting the class to gang up on her. And for being so oblivious that she couldn’t tell that Adrien had a crush on her. 

_Soon it won’t matter anymore,_ she thought as she finished up the last of her preparations. By this afternoon, no one would think Marinette was anyone worth having a crush on. _Especially_ Adrien.

\---

Marinette was ready for this party to be _over._ Who knew baby showers were so much work? Next time, she was definitely going to enlist some more help. But a day away, and they were just about ready, even though she’d been set back when Alya and Nino had dragged her a Kitty Section practice the day before after they’d finished up with the decorations, insisting that the break would be good for her. Marinette had gone along with it, partly because she liked getting to hang out with Luka, and partly because she really did need the break. As Marinette dragged herself into her last class of the day, she reminded herself that the baby shower was tomorrow, and after that she’d be free and clear of any party-planning responsibilities. As soon as school was over, she was going home and taking a long nap.

“I’ve graded your mock exam papers,” Ms Bustier said from the front of the class. “Most of you did quite well. Some… better than others, but before I hand them back, Marinette, could you bring your school bag to me please? I need to check something.”

Marinette exchanged confused glances with Alya, then did as Ms. Bustier asked.

Ms Bustier rummaged through Marinette’s bag. “Today, someone placed an anonymous note in my mailbox, claiming that you’d stolen the exam answers.” She pulled out a couple of papers. “And it looks like the anonymous person was right.”

Marinette gaped at her as the class gasped.

What was going on?

Marinette wilted away from the stares of her classmates as she led the way to her locker, followed by her parents, Ms. Bustier, Mr. Damocles, and Lila. Most of her classmates looked like they didn’t know what to think. But Marinette found herself wishing that she didn’t have an audience as Mr. Damocles told her to open her locker.

She gasped as a pendant - the same pendant that Lila had claimed was a miraculous months earlier - fell out of her locker and onto the floor. Her parents looked at her in shock. Her classmates had similar expressions on their faces. 

“She’s making up this whole thing!” Marinette said desperately. “It wasn’t me, I didn’t do anything, I swear!” Marinette looked around. Her classmates had defended her before, in the classroom, but seemed like now they didn’t want to do so in front of the principal. Her gaze latched on Adrien. His eyebrows were furrowed and he was looking more concerned than betrayed, and he was one person she knew would believe that Lila was lying.

“You know Lila’s lying, don’t you, Adrien?”

Adrien glanced at Lila, then said, “Mr. Damocles, I don’t think-” Mr. Damocles held up a hand to stop him, but Adrien pressed on. “Marinette wouldn’t do that!” Lila shot Adrien a look.

“Mr. Agreste-”

“He’s right, sir,” Alya chimed in. “The evidence is all circumstantial. We don’t technically have any proof, it’s Lila’s word against Marinette’s.”

“The stolen pendant was in her locker! You say that’s not proof?” Mr. Damocles demanded.

“Someone could have planted it there easily.” Adrien argued. 

Marinette watched, a little amazed. She’d never seen Adrien stand up for someone else before today, unless you counted the locker room incident. She was glad he was taking her advice, even if this wasn’t exactly what she’d meant.

“I’m sorry class, but I’m afraid the evidence is stacked against Marinette,” Ms. Bustier said. “And Lila has no reason to dislike Marinette, while Marinette…” She didn’t say it but everyone knew she was thinking about all the times Marinette had tried to point out discrepancies in Lila’s stories. 

Adiren’s face lit up. “But Lila does have a reason to dislike Marinette! Yesterday-” 

Lila suddenly backed up and tripped. Marinette watched in disbelief as Adrien caught her and Lila wailed, “Oh, my leg!”

“You also pushed Miss Rossi down the stairs,” Mr. Domocles said, glaring at Marinette while Ms. Bustier rushed to console Lila. 

“No one saw her do that, though!” Adrien said.

“I’ve heard enough from you, Mr. Agreste. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, you are expelled from this school!”

The class gasped as Marinette stepped back in shock. What? No. No, she couldn’t be expelled. 

Adrien stepped forward. “Mr. Damocles, everyone here knows that this isn’t like Marinette. You can’t expel her without-”

“Enough, Mr. Agreste. Do I need to make a call home?”

Adrien shrunk away, and Marinette felt a twinge of sympathy. She was really grateful for the support, even if she was a little annoyed that she’d had to prod him to do it. She could also see Lila scowling, though she wasn’t sure why, considering her plot had worked.

But now she was expelled. And she didn’t know what she was going to do.

\---

Lila was very angry.

Yes, she was angry a lot. Angry at her mom, angry at Ladybug, angry at Marinette, angry at the world. 

But now she was _really_ angry. Marinette had been expelled, and yet Adrien was still standing by her. Still taking her side. She’d managed to fool the principal, her teacher, and even most of her classmates - but it didn’t matter, because she hadn’t fooled Adrien.

 _It’s Marinette’s fault,_ she thought as a dark butterfly landed on her fox necklace, thinking of the disgustingly sappy way Adrien looked at Marinette. _It’s Ladybug’s fault,_ she thought as Hawkmoth’s voice filled her head, remembering Ladybug exposing Lila’s lies to Adrien for the first time.

Revealer stood up and locked eyes with Marinette. All around her, her classmates screamed and ran to get out of her way, and Ms. Bustier was calling for someone to get help. Marinette backed up until her back hit the wall, and Revealer stalked forward.

“ _You_.” she snarled. “I warned you, but you didn’t listen to me.”

“I don’t understand,” Marinette said. “You already got me expelled, what more do you want?”

“Oh, Marinette,” Revealer said, leaning forward and whispering in Marinette’s ear. “Obviously ‘expelled’ wasn’t enough to turn your everyone against you. You see, you still seem to have a few friends.” Revealer backed up and pointed her flute, which was now a deep blue, at Marinette. “I’m just making good on my promise. And now everyone will know your deepest secrets, and no one will trust you ever again. They’ll all believe whatever I say about you.”

Marinette’s eyes widened, and Revealer took pleasure in her fear. She closed her eyes and raised her flute to her lips, but before she could blow, there was a muffled cry of “Cataclysm!”. Snapping her eyes open, Revealer watched as the wall behind Marinette turned black and crumbled. She shielded her eyes from the cloud of dust and jumped back to avoid the debris. When she opened her eyes again, there was a hole in the wall of the locker room, and Marinette was nowhere in sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun, dun, dunnnnn ;)


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The much awaited next chapter! I had to rewrite this one a lot because I wasn’t entirely happy with how it turned out. We’ll see what happens.

_Don’t let her look down, don’t let her look down, don’t let her look down,_ Chat Noir pleaded in his head as he tossed Marinette over his shoulder and jumped out of the destroyed part of the wall. _Don’t let her look down, don’t let her look down, don’t let her look down,_ he thought desperately as he landed as gently as he could and ran around the corner of the school. _Don’t look down don’t look down don’t look down…_ he prayed, as he clutched his baton in one hand and tightened his grip on Marinette with the other, ready to run if he needed to.

Luckily, when the dark blue figure jumped out the window, it ran away from them, probably assuming they’d escaped via the rooftops. Chat Noir breathed a sigh of relief and set Marinette down on her feet. She hadn’t made a sound since he’d slung her over his shoulder. He hoped it was because she was smart enough to know to stay quiet, and not because he’d knocked the wind out of her.

“Are you okay, princess?” he asked, steadying her as she wobbled. “Sorry I startled you.”

She nodded in response. “Why aren’t you going after the akuma?” she asked. Her eyes widened and she waved her hands in front of her as if trying to erase what she’d just said. “I mean, I’m not telling you to go away, not at all, haha, I like you, I mean, not like, like like, just um, I like being with you, of course I do, you’re Chat Noir, even if you did scare me a little-”

Babbly Marinette was back, as adorable as ever. “Yeah, sorry about that. I was trying to get you out of there fast.” he winked. “Sweeping you off your feet is just a bonus.”

Marinette’s face turned red. Probably from the head rush. Getting flipped upside down, and all that. She had a point, though. Chat probably should be chasing the akuma. He didn’t want to leave Marinette alone, though. If the supervillian was who he thought it was… Lila _really_ had it out for Marinette, for some reason. He wasn’t going to take any chances with her safety.

“Did you see who got akumatized?”

“A girl in my class. Lila Rossi.”

Chat bit back a curse. “What happened?”

“She… today she…” Marinette’s gaze dropped and she fidgeted a bit with her purse. “Um, she doesn’t like me very much.”

Chat took a deep breath to quell his rising anger. At Lila, for targeting Marinette, and at himself, for not being there when Marinette needed him. Marinette had done so much for him in the past two weeks-helping him escape from his bodyguard and from Lila, finding his textbook and his phone, organizing a baby shower for Ms. Bustier, even trying her best to set him up with Kagami- and she didn’t even like him that much. She didn’t deserve any of this. 

Chat fought back a growl so he could focus on the girl in front of him. “I know, it’s hard to imagine anyone not liking you, Princess. Don’t worry, she doesn’t like me or Ladybug much either. You’re in good company.” He winked at her. He knew it wasn’t quite what she needed to hear, but he didn’t know what else to say. As far as she knew, they didn’t know each other. Chat Noir shouldn’t have any idea that Marinette had just gotten unfairly expelled from school.

She at least tried to smile at his weak joke. But this was Marinette as he’d never seen her - defeated. Hopeless. And he didn’t like it.

His ring beeped. “Let’s get you somewhere safer,” he said, scooping her up gently, then paused, trying to think of where he could keep Marinette safe. 

“You could leave me at the eiffel tower again,” Marinette suggested, as though she knew what he was thinking.

“No way. Last time I left you at the Eiffel Tower your grandma figured it out so fast. I’d rather keep you with me.”

“But you won’t be able to fight Lila that way,” she argued. “And you’re about to transform back.”

He hated that she was right. His entire body itched to keep Marinette close and protect her, but he knew hiding her was the logical option. So he ran towards the TV station. Lila probably wouldn’t think to look for her there.

He hated to do it, but he needed to know. “What was she saying to you?”

Marinette’s entire body tensed.

“It’s good for Ladybug and me to know why the victim got akumatized,” he reminded her. “But you don’t have to say if you don’t want to.”

Marinette’s arms tightened around his neck. “No, it’s okay.” She took a deep breath. “She was saying that I should have listened to her the first time and-”

“The first time?”

“I guess you know about how Lila lies about everything? Well, I’ve tried to call her out on it in class a couple of times, just pointing out little slips she made that anyone should have noticed if they were paying attention. No one really listened to me, but it made Lila mad anyway, and she cornered me in the bathroom and told me that if I didn’t go along with everything she said she’d turn all my friends against me-”

Chat almost tripped, which would have been bad, since he was still carrying Marinette. “She did what?!” 

“I know, right? Then later-”

Chat interrupted her. “She threatened you?”

“Um, yeah. Twice. Well, three times if it counts when she’s akumatized.”

Chat Noir made the final jump to the TV station and set Marinette down. 

“I think I can guess the rest,” he said. 

He tried to keep a straight face, but Marinette saw right through it. “Are you okay?” she asked him, concerned. “You look...um…”

She reached forward and took his wrist. She held it up so he could see it, clenched into a fist and shaking.

Plagg always told him he was more protective as Chat Noir, but it was hard to imagine not being this angry when he found out that Lila had been threatening Marinette.

Marinette ran her other hand gently across Chat’s knuckles, and he forced his hands to relax so he could feel the caress of Marinette’s gentle hands.

“She got me expelled from school today,” she said quietly. “Now all my friends think I’m a bully and a liar.”

Chat felt himself tense again, but he took her hands in his own. _She_ shouldn’t be the one comforting _him_. “That’s awful,” he said. “But, I’ve seen your friends before. I saw them defend you from your grandma. I know they believe in you. Okay?” he looked her right in the eyes. “You’re strong. You can get through this.”

Marinette’s blue eyes widened, and Chat suddenly found it a little hard to breathe as she looked at him. “Thank you,” she breathed.

The moment was interrupted by his ring beeping.

Suppressing a frustrated groan, Chat let go of Marinette’s hands and glanced at his ring. Two pads left.

“I’m sorry, I have to go.”

Marinette nodded at him. “Go save the day.” 

It didn’t sound ironic. It was...tender. And trusting. And when she smiled at him, it was still a little sad, but it was the most unguarded expression he had ever seen on her face. Her genuine smile stole the rest of his breath away.

Knowing he needed to leave, he backed to the edge of the roof, but her voice stopped him. 

“Chat Noir! I just remembered- after she was akumatized, Lila told me that she was going to reveal all my deepest secrets.”

“Huh. I wonder what that means.” Chat Noir shook his head, filing the information away to tell Ladybug later. She’d figure it out. “Thanks, Princess.” He gave Marinette a playful salute, then jumped.

After feeding a very whiny Plagg, Chat Noir dropped next to Ladybug, who was standing on a roof, hands on her hips as she watched akumatized Lila jump from rooftop to rooftop a few streets away. Now that Chat was actually looking closely at the supervillain, he saw that she looked a lot like Volpina, but her suit was a deep blue and her hair was white to match the accents on her flute.

“Hi, kitty.” Ladybug greeted him without taking her eyes off Lila, who had spotted them and was now moving in their direction. “Lila again?”

“Yep,” Chat Noir agreed. “Again.” He reached behind him and grabbed his baton, following Ladybug as she swung to a higher roof. 

“Hey Lila!” Ladybug called as the supervillain drew closer, gripping her yoyo so hard it looked like it hurt. “Have you finally figured out that lying doesn’t get you what you want?”

Lila scowled and jumped towards them. “That’s Revealer to you.” she snapped as she ran. “I’ve had enough of people calling me a liar. It’s your turn now.” 

Ladybug and Chat Noir charged to meet her, twirling their weapons. 

“I’m going to expose Marinette for the bully and liar she is! Where is she?” Revealer demanded.

“Beats me,” Chat Noir said, knocking away her flute and hoping she wouldn’t think to check the TV station.

Revealer growled and flipped away to avoid Ladybug.

“Revealer?” Ladybug asked, glancing at Chat Noir. 

Chat grinned. “I know, right? With how much you lie, you should have called yourself Concealer,” he told Revealer, who scowled and would have hit him if he hadn’t ducked.

Ladybug threw her yoyo and captured Revealer’s wrist before she could try again. “And be reminded of her every time I put on makeup?” she asked skeptically. “No thanks, kitty.”

Revealer tossed her flute to her other hand and used it to pry off the yoyo. Jumping to another rooftop, she raised her flute to her lips.

“Uh oh,” Ladybug muttered.

Chat Noir fully agreed with her. Somehow, he doubted the blue ball of light that appeared as Revealer played was going to be anything like her illusions.

Ladybug threw her yoyo just as Revealer whipped the light towards her. Chat tackled Ladybug and they rolled to a stop as the light zipped harmlessly by.

“I don’t think we want to find out what happens if we get hit.” Chat told her as she stood and helped him up. “Marinette said something about revealing our deepest secrets.”

Ladybug started to say something, but then shoved Chat out of the way as the light whipped around like a boomerang back towards them. 

Revealer threw more light towards them, and Chat Noir lost track of her as he ducked and dodged to avoid getting hit. 

“They fall apart if you hit them hard enough!” Ladybug called to him.

He smacked an orb away from him with his baton, and sure enough, it dissolved. They made quick work of the rest of them,but by the time they were clear, Revealer was gone.

“Where’d she go?” Ladybug asked as Chat Noir blinked dark spots out of his vision.

“To find Marinette, probably,” he realized. “We’d better go after her.”

No matter how many times Ladybug assured him that Marinette was going to be fine, Chat couldn’t help worrying. It seemed Revealer hadn’t found her yet, luckily, and the fight never strayed near the TV station.

Unfortunately, Ladybug and Chat Noir were no closer to defeating Revealer than they were at the beginning. Whenever an orb of light struck someone, they would suddenly blurt out something like, “I cheated on my wife,” or rip off a toupee, or start yelling what they really thought about their boss. Bags split open, revealing hidden items, or images appeared above their heads, presenting their deepest secrets to the world. Chat found out some _interesting_ things about the people of Paris.

“Maybe your lucky charm will give up some duct tape and we could tape our mouths shut,” Chat suggested after twenty minutes of chasing Revealer. “Then it won’t matter if we get hit.”

“You know my power doesn’t work like that.” Ladybug reminded him, jumping to avoid an orb. “And we might just detransform if we get hit.” She swung her yoyo and hit two other balls of light that had been heading for her partner. “You’re right, though, this isn’t working.”

“So what’s the plan?”

“I don’t have one yet! We need to know more before I use my power.” 

“Now that you mention it,” Chat said as they resumed the chase for Revealer. “I don’t get it. Lila’s akumas are normally about deceiving people so her lies won’t be exposed. Why the change?”

Ladybug glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. “Something must be different this time,” she suggested. Her voice sounded oddly strained.

“The supervillain’s powers are normally tied to what they want,” Chat mused. “So what is Lila trying to discover?”

“Our identities?” 

“But she’s targeting Marinette. What does she want to know about-”

“How am I supposed to know?” Ladybug snapped. “Why don’t you ask her yourself? It’s not like the supervillains tend to keep their grievances a secret.”

Chat stopped in his tracks and blinked at Ladybug. She never snapped at him. “Is everything okay, milady?”

She muttered something under her breath and used her yoyo to yank him out of the way of more flying lights that Revealer had just sent their way. “Just peachy.”

Chat Noir bit back a bad joke about Mr. Banana. It was not a good time. He’d forgotten that Ladybug was touchy when it came to Lila.

“I’m sure Hawkmoth has just changed his tactics.” Ladybug said shortly. “We already know to watch out for illusions, so he’s throwing something else at us. Lila’s just his latest victim.” 

“I still think there’s more to this.”

“Of course there is. Lila wants to ruin Marinette’s credibility, and Hawkmoth wants our miraculous. BAM! Revealer. Perfect solution.”

Ladybug spun to avoid an orb, Chat smashed it with his baton, and they both dropped down to street level, pressing themselves against the wall of the alley. 

Chat Noir would have to figure it out later. Right now, he needed to focus on helping Ladybug.

“We need to speed this along.” Ladybug said. “Revealer’s just going to pull us along on a string until she finds Marinette. Lucky Charm!” A keychain fell into her open palm. 

Chat Noir stared at it. “Is that…”

Ladybug looked sick. “Master Fu’s keychain.”

“Does that mean-”

“I don’t know.”

“It has to, right?”

“Not necessarily.” Ladybug ran her gloved fingers over the keychain. “It’s not even in there anymore, I moved it…” she trailed off, lost in thought.

Chat Noir bounced on the balls of his feet, looked back and forth between Ladybug and the keychain. Finally he couldn’t take it anymore. “Well?”

Ladybug blinked. “Sorry, I’m just trying to think of who to ask. I can’t think of anyone.”

Chat had an idea, but he knew Ladybug would fight him on it if he just sprung it on her. “Well, you normally pick someone who’s already involved, right?”

Ladybug narrowed her eyes at him, not fooled at all. She knew him too well. “We can’t ask Marinette.”

“But why not?” Chat asked, dropping all pretense. “She’s perfect for the job. Hawkmoth doesn’t know her identity. We both already know who she is, so it doesn’t matter if she gets hit.”

“But-”

“We know exactly where she is, so we won’t have to waste time tracking her down.”

“Chat Noir, we can’t-” Ladybug trailed off, and Chat realized that at some point he’d put his hands on Ladybug’s shoulders.

“You can’t tell me you don’t already have a plan that involves Multimouse.” he said, more quietly and trying not to sound desperate. Marinette made an awesome superhero. She shouldn’t have that taken away just because he knew her identity.

“Well…” Ladybug looked up at him. Chat could see the hesitation in her eyes. She had real reservations about using Marinette for some reason. 

“Do you not trust her?” Chat asked. “It was just one mistake. We’ve both made them.”

Ladybug didn’t respond.

“Do…” Chat swallowed hard and pulled back his arms, not sure if he wanted to voice his next question. “Do you not trust me?”

“No!” Ladybug said immediately, so vehemently that Chat Noir couldn’t help but believe her. “I do trust you, Chaton. That’s not it.” She closed her eyes briefly and whispered. “You’re right. Multimouse is our best chance.”

Chat grinned as Ladybug opened her eyes and closed her fist around the keychain. “You won’t regret it, Ladybug. Marinette’s a real hero.”

“I hope you’re right.” she replied quietly. “Where did you leave Marinette?”

“The TV station.”

“Try to keep Revealer away from that part of the city. I’ll be back as fast as I can.” And with that, she cast out her yoyo and swung away, up out of the alley.

Chat watched her go. Yes, he was a little biased when it came to Marinette, but she’d already proven herself. This way, she could help take down Lila and stay safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not one of Ladybug’s brightest ideas but yaayyyyy Multimouse! 
> 
> We’re now at about halfway through this fic! Thank you so much everyone! I know I don’t respond to a lot of comments but I read every one and they make my day! I thrive off of them. 
> 
> I’m not going to be posting this Thursday because of Thanksgiving, but after that, normal schedule. For all y’all who celebrate (is Thanksgiving just an American thing? I’m not sure), have a wonderful holiday! Everyone please stay safe.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI, La Joconde is what the French call the Mona Lisa.

Marinette collapsed on her bed, letting her transformation fall. Smushing her face into the pillow so she wouldn’t have to look at Tikki, she mumbled, “I really messed up this time.”

“It’s okay, Marinette,” Tikki said bracingly. “You’ll fix it like you always do.”

Not the lecture she was expecting, but she’d take it. Tikki was probably saving it for later. And she had every right. Actually _agreeing_ to bring back _Multimouse_? Clearly her brain had gone on vacation for the afternoon. 

It was just… she couldn’t resist Chat’s kitten eyes. And the way he talked about Marinette…

She was probably just imagining it. Still, though, she couldn’t stand seeing his ears droop when he asked if she trusted him, or his strained smile, hurting for Marinette but trying to put on a brave front. Marinette knew him too well to be fooled.

Marinette groaned.“I’m so sorry, Tikki. This was a mistake, I don’t know what I was thinking. It’s just... so hard to say no to Chat Noir.”

Tikki sighed. “We’ll talk about it later, Marinette.”

The logical side of Marinette knew she couldn’t be Multimouse and Ladybug at the same time without giving herself away. This was a really, really bad idea, and she needed to figure out something else before it all blew up in her face.

The other part of her kept replaying how Chat had grabbed her and thrown her over his shoulder without hesitation, as if she weighed nothing. The feel of his arm, wrapped around her waist to keep her steady. The concern in his eyes as he asked if she was okay. The warmth of his hands in hers, even through the suit. The-

“Marinette?”

“Sorry, Tikki, you’re right,” Marinette said, giving her head a hard shake to clear her thoughts. She’d think about those things later. Marinette jumped off her bed and pulled out the miracle box from where she’d stashed it. “I’ll just have to make sure Chat Noir is convinced that this is really Multimouse’s last appearance.”

She pulled out the mouse miraculous, but hesitated before closing the box. She could take the fox miraculous, just in case, but it didn’t seem like a good idea to use it. She didn’t think illusions would work a second time, not with so many moving parts. Leaving the fox miraculous where it was, she closed the miracle box. She’d have to deal with it on her own. Stowing the box away carefully, she put on the necklace and called for Mullo to transform her.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Tikki warned as she climbed up onto her balcony. 

“Don’t worry, Tikki,” Multimouse assured her, unraveling her skipping rope and giving it an experimental swing. She’d mostly ignored it during her last stint with the mouse miraculous, but it seemed like it worked similar to her yoyo. “I’ve got this.”

Hoping she was right, she leapt off the balcony, swinging towards where she left Chat Noir.

It didn’t take long to find him. He was doing a good job of distracting Revealer, though at the moment he was occupied with dodging the orbs of light. Multimouse dropped beside him and made quick work of the last few with her rope.

Chat Noir turned to face her, and froze, green eyes widening. His baton slipped out of his hand and Multimouse bent to catch it before it hit the ground. She handed it back to him and backed up a few steps, aware of Chat’s eyes on her. She tried not to look too pleased at his reaction as she clasped her hands behind her, suddenly shy as Chat gave her a once over. He cleared his throat once, twice, and said, voice low, “Thanks for the save… Multimouse.”

“No problem.” She could have sworn he was blushing underneath his mask. Or maybe she was just projecting. She was _definitely_ blushing, and could only hope that Chat couldn’t tell. Her mind was racing, going over her plan and cover story and the way Chat was looking at her as if trying to commit her to memory. She didn’t know what to say.

“Where’s Ladybug?”

Yeah, they should probably start with that.

Multimouse ducked her head. “She’s… not coming.”

“What?” Chat asked, confused. “Is she okay? What happened?”

“She got hit by one of those light things while she was giving me my miraculous.”

“Oh no! Is she okay? Can’t she just transform again?”

Multimouse shook her head. “Her mask is gone.”

Chat swore. “Well, what are we going to do without Ladybug?”

“We’ll just have to steal the akumatized object, rather than breaking it,” Multimouse said confidently. “Easy peasy, right?”

“Except we haven’t been able to get close to Revealer at all.” Chat sighed. 

“Hey, that’s what I’m here for,” Multimouse reminded him. “I’ll sneak up on Revealer, grab the necklace, then take it to Ladybug.”

“Wait,” Chat Noir said slowly. “If you were with Ladybug when she got hit, does that mean… you know who she is?”

Multimouse froze. She hadn’t thought this through enough, apparently. Her immediate reaction was to deny, deny, deny, say that Ladybug covered her face or something. But then she realized… this could be exactly what she needed. 

Multimouse turned her face away, trying to look guilty. “I didn’t mean to see. It just happened so fast. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” Chat assured her. “Just not part of the plan.” He paused. “What is the plan?”

Multimouse looked up at him, and even though her brain was screaming _don't do it, don’t act like Ladybug,_ she stalked closer and smiled innocently up at him. “Why don’t you come and see?” 

This close, she could see that he was definitely blushing. _Interesting._ Identities be damned, if Multimouse flirting had this effect on him, she was going to take all she could get before she became Ladybug and had to be professional again. Might as well add to the reasons she was in trouble with Tikki.

So, hardly believing her nerve, she rose up on her tiptoes and flicked Chat Noir’s bell. “Catch me if you can, pussycat!” Laughing, she turned and ran.

All in all, it was definitely a better first superhero impression than losing control of her yoyo and falling on him from the sky.

\---

It took Chat Noir three seconds of starting after Multimouse, dumbstruck, before his brain kicked back into gear and he remembered how to move. Apparently there was yet another side of Marinette he had yet to see.

As he ran after Multimouse, he started to wonder if bringing out the mouse miraculous was a good idea after all. Yes, Marinette was smart and kind and capable - and Lila was going to get her butt handed to her on a platter - but Multimouse was also very cute and very distracting. 

Chat knew he should probably try to focus, but he couldn’t bring himself to care as he chased Multimouse across the rooftops. (It was only her second time as a superhero, how was she so fast?) The loss of Ladybug was a blow, but watching Multimouse confidently flip and dodge away from him as if she’d been born to race across rooftops, Chat found it hard to believe that Marinette wouldn’t rise to the challenge. Ladybug had been out of commission before, and Marinette had saved the day then, too, after all.

Chat finally caught up to Multimouse as she slowed, then stopped, pressing herself against a chimney. Chat tapped her on the shoulder with one finger. “Gotcha,” he smirked. 

Multimouse rolled her eyes at him. “Only because I let you, kitty cat.”

Chat’s pulse quickened at the nickname. It shouldn’t, everyone called him that. Ladybug, Alya, the press, even Hawkmoth’s supervillains loved to call him ‘kitty cat’. It sounded different, coming from the girl he liked, though. “Still counts. How about another game of cat and mouse?”

“How about you be serious for a minute?”

“You started it.” Chat smirked at her.

Multimouse beckoned him closer, and pointed around the chimney to where Revealer was jumping around, playing her flute and causing havoc amongst fleeing civilians. 

“What’s she doing? I thought she was looking for you.” Chat asked.

“Paris is in an uproar. She’s trying to draw us out. She knows that if she creates chaos, Ladybug and Chat Noir will have to come and try to stop her.”

“So what do we do?”

“You are going to lure her to the Louvre Museum. La Joconde.”

Chat raised an eyebrow. That wasn’t what he was expecting. “Well, she is Italian. What about you?”

“I’ll meet you there.” Chat gave her a disbelieving stare, but Multimouse just winked at him. “Trust me. I’m the secret weapon.”

“Can we at least stay in touch?” Chat asked before she could leave.

“How?”

“There should be an earpiece in your rope.”

Multimouse unraveled her tail and poked at the handle until, as promised, a small earpiece fell out into her hand. “Huh. Okay, sure.” She put it in her ear, then prodded Chat Noir until he stepped out from behind the chimney. “Now go. Good luck!”

“Wow, you’re almost as bossy as Ladybug,” Chat quipped before running after Revealer. “How am I supposed to get her to follow me? I’ve been the one chasing her all afternoon.”

Instead of answering, Multimouse said, _“On your left!”_

Chat instinctively ducked while bringing his baton up at the same time, deflecting the orb of light that had been on a collision course with his head.

_“Looks like Revealer sees you. Get closer.”_

Dodging a few more orbs, Chat dropped to all fours and ran across the roof.

A giggle came from the earpiece. _“Are you running like a cat?”_

“You can see me?” He looked around for Multimouse, but didn’t see her. “Where are you?”

 _“Staying out of sight,”_ was the only answer he got. Why were all the girls in his life so cryptic?

“Chat Noir!” Revealer pointed her flute at him, and he stopped in his tracks. At least there weren’t any more orbs to dodge. “Finally stopped hiding, have you? But where’s Ladybug?”

“Funny, I thought you were looking for Marinette.” Chat said casually, leaning on his baton.

“Why stop at Marinette when I can get my revenge on both of them?”

“Oh, I see how it is. Seriously? What’s a guy gotta do to be on someone’s hit list?”

Revealer scowled, but he could hear Marinette laughing quietly from his earpiece, and he grinned despite himself. He was glad _someone_ found him funny.

“You’ll get your turn, cat. Tell me where Marinette and Ladybug are, and I’ll stop terrorizing Paris.”

“A fine and generous offer, but I’ll have to pass.”

“Are you sure? Secrets are dangerous, you know. Actually, you should know better than anyone else, I would think.” Revealer twirled her flute threateningly.

_“You’re supposed to be luring her to the Louvre, not making small talk.”_

_I know!_ Chat wanted to say, but he couldn’t give himself away to Revealer. Then he remembered another akuma, another supervillain, another day he had hidden Marinette away, only to pretend to give her up when Befana threatened him and Ladybug.

He doubted Hawkmoth would let a supervillain fall for it again, but there was more than one way to “accidentally” give away a secret. He quickly glanced to the right, to where he could see the Louvre pyramid a few blocks away. 

“Ladybug’s with Marinette.”

“And where is Marinette?”

“With Ladybug.” his eyes flickered toward the Louvre.

“Time’s almost up, wise guy.” Revealer growled. _“Where are they?”_

“Couldn’t you just blast me and make me tell you?” He glanced to the side again, and this time Revealer followed his gaze.

“I could.” She played some notes on her flute, and flung more light at him. “But you’ve already given it away.” 

Chat flipped and dodged, and Revealer cackled and ran towards the Louvre.

“Wait, no!” Chat cried, knocking away the last of the orbs before following.

 _“What did you do?”_ Multimouse asked.

“Made her think I was hiding Marinette at the Louvre.”

 _“Huh.”_ There was a pause. _“That was really smart.”_

“Body language _is_ how cats communicate.” He paused as he reached the roof of the Louvre Museum. “Um, how do I get her to La Joconde?”

_“She’ll probably try to follow you if she thinks you’re going to find Marinette and Ladybug.”_

Chat dropped into the museum through a window. As he was walking down the corridor, he thought he heard something. Turning his head slightly, he caught a glimpse of blue in the corner of his vision. Thank goodness for his enhanced hearing. He flipped open his baton and held it to his ear. “Ladybug?”

_“What? N-no, I’m not Ladybug, you must be confused, Chat-”_

“Revealer’s after Marinette.” Chat continued. “What’s that? Okay. I’ll meet you at La Joconde.” He flipped his baton closed and listened to the soft sounds of Revealer sneaking away. 

“She’s gone,” he told Multimouse. “Headed your way.”

Multimouse let out a breath of air. _“Copy that.”_

Despite the headstart he had given her, Chat Noir ended up reaching the wing that held La Joconde before Revealer. He looked in through the entryway just in time to see Multimouse toss her skipping rope in the air and say softly, “Multitude!”

Chat watched in fascination as she shrunk until he had to squint to make out a dozen or so tiny clones of her running around and spreading out. He crouched down and one of them ran up to him, surprisingly fast for being so small.

He held out his hand, and she climbed up onto it. He straightened and brought her up close to his face. She was tiny. A kwami would look like an elephant next to her. “Aw, you’re so little.”

“Watch out!” she cried.

Chat ducked out of the way just in time for an orb to crash against the wall behind him.

“What’s wrong?” he taunted Revealer as she stalked into the room. “Feeling _blue_?”

“The only one blue will be you after you’ve handed over your miraculous?” Revealer shot back. “But first… Marinette and Ladybug. Where are they? Hiding like the helpless little bugs they are?”

“I’m hiding, but I’m not helpless,” Multimouse muttered into Chat’s ear as Revealer ran deeper into the room. He jumped, wondering when she’d moved from his hand to his shoulder. He reached up to grab her, but she swatted his hand away. “I’m not going to fall.”

“What if she sees you?” he hissed.

“She won’t. I’m quiet as a mouse. Block her exit.”

Chat did, so extending his baton and watching Revealer warily as she kicked down doors and knocked over decorations. She seemed to be ignoring him for now, but he was sure that would change as soon as she realized the girls she was looking for weren’t there.

“What are we waiting for?” he whispered.

“For the rest of us to get into position.” Multimouse told him. “On my mark, attack her, and get in close. Don’t let her use her flute. Drive her back towards the back wall. We’ll do the rest.” 

Chat had a brief moment to marvel at how easily Multimouse took charge. She was a natural leader, and wasn’t cracking under the pressure. “Now!”

Revealer turned toward Chat Noir, scowling, and he rushed to meet her. Before she could raise her flute, he was upon her, swinging his baton as she backed up under the force of his onslaught.

“A few more feet…” Multimouse murmured.

Suddenly, Revealer tripped, landing hard on the stone floor. Chat Noir pointed his baton at her chest, preventing her from getting up, and glanced down. Sure enough, he could see six or so Multimouses (Multimice?) scattering around his feet.

“The flute!” the Multimouse on his shoulder told him. 

“Cataclysm!” Chat snatched Revealer’s flute out of his hands, and she cried out helplessly as it crumbled into dust.

Growling, Revealer shoved Chat’s baton out of the way and stood up. As she did however, her necklace shifted, then fell. Chat lunged forward and caught it in one hand, shoving Revealer as hard as he could backwards with the other. 

“Retreat!” Multimouse told him. 

As Revealer staggered, off balance, Chat ran towards the entryway. Revealer gave chase, yelling, “Get back here, you mangy alley cat!”

“Here’s good.” Multimouse said calmly from his shoulder. 

Chat Noir obediently stopped outside the entryway of the wing. Suddenly, alarms blared, red lights flashed, and bars came crashing down over the entryway. 

Chat craned his neck to look at Multimouse, on his shoulder. She put her hands on her hips, and said, “The funny thing about museum security is that even a little mouse can trigger it if it scurries across a famous painting.”

Chat raised an eyebrow at her. “Is it the mouse problem that made Revealer trip and her necklace unclasp, too?”

Multimouse shrugged. “What can I say? Mice are devious little things.”

Chat wondered vaguely whose plan this was. For that matter, who came up with the plan when they fought Kwamibuster? He could see both Ladybug and Marinette coming up with it.

Chat Noir watched as all the Multimice ran towards them, small enough to easily slip through the bars. Crouching down again, he held out his hands. “Need a ride, little mice?” he asked as he lifted them up.

“That depends,” one of them said, putting her hands on her hips in the most adorable way. “Are you going to eat us?”

“I’ll do my best to resist.” he promised, smirking.

“Well, then, just to the roof.” The Multimice ran up his arms and flipped up to rest on his shoulders, head, and hands. Careful of his claws, but making sure he wasn’t going to drop anyone, he left Revealer to the police and ran out of the museum, up onto the roof.

He dropped into a crouch and let the Multimice jump off of him onto the ground. All but one. 

He lifted her in his hands, and she reached out to touch his nose just under his mask. His eyes crossed trying to look at her. She giggled, and then kissed the tip of his nose, so gently he might not have felt it if he wasn’t watching it happen. 

He blushed, and set her down.

The Multimice ran for each other, merging until they grew into a full sized Multimouse, whose necklace was beeping. She looked down, startled, then held out her hand for the fox pendant, which was still blue. Chat handed it to her. “I guess I better go take this to Ladybug,” she said, scowling at it briefly before looping the chain around her wrist.

“I'll make sure Revealer stays put until the police get here,” Chat suggested. “And, Multimouse?” he held out a fist. No one would ever be able to replace Ladybug... but he and Multimouse made a great team.

She met him halfway.

“Pound it.”

Chat Noir rubbed his neck. “So… what’s next?” He didn’t have to elaborate. They both knew what he was talking about.

Marinette looked at her feet. “I don’t know. I guess I’ll have to talk to Ladybug.”

“Will you tell her to meet me for patrol on the Eiffel tower later?”

Multimouse nodded.

Chat paused, then added, “I hope everything works out with your school.”

Multimouse gave him a wry smile. “I hope so too.” Flinging out her skipping rope, she said, “I’ll see you later, Chat Noir.” Then she was gone, disappearing in the fading light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The show completely botched the opportunity for cat and mouse jokes with Kwamibuster. I mean seriously? How could they let that opportunity pass by?


	13. Chapter 13

Chat Noir was grateful he had already used his cataclysm, because he was _this_ close to using it on Lila. Or Revealer, he supposed, since she was still white-haired and blue-clad. As he watched Revealer fume, arms crossed, he wondered how much it would take to get Lila mad when she wasn’t akumatized. She only ever lost her temper as a supervillain. They tended to be much more loose-lipped about their feelings than their civilian counterparts.

“So,” Chat said, interrupting her tirade on how awful Marinette and Ladybug were, and how dumb everyone else was for liking them. “Are you going to tell me why you hate Marinette so much?”

Revealer just scowled at him.

Chat raised an eyebrow at her. “It can’t just be because everyone likes her.” 

Revealer scowled harder, if that was possible. 

“I’m starting to think you just have a grudge against the world.” Chat continued. “I’m pretty sure the only person you actually like is Adrien.”

Revealer finally broke, storming towards him and slamming her hands on the bars. “It’s not just that _everyone_ likes her, though that’s bad enough. It’s that _Adrien_ likes her, and she’s too dumb to even realize it. He should be falling for me! Not some idiotic harpy who has the entire class wrapped around her little finger!”

Chat Noir stepped back, too shocked to even register the insult against Marinette, or the sounds of sirens in the distance, or the beeping of his ring on his finger.

“She doesn’t know when to keep her mouth shut! And I finally got rid of her today, but Adrien still took her side!” Revealer kept ranting, but Chat wasn’t listening anymore. He was having an internal crisis, even while police officers, led by Lieutenant Raincomprix, swarmed around the bars, talking into their radios and clapping him on the shoulder.

Lila knew he had a crush on Marinette? That was why Lila kept targeting her? Chat’s heart sank. It was his fault. His fault that Lila hated Marinette. His fault that Marinette was threatened. His fault that Marinette was _expelled_ from school. All because of his stupid crush, and Lila’s pettiness and jealousy.

Revealer suddenly gasped and dropped to her knees as her blue costume disappeared, leaving a dazed Lila in her stead. Torn with guilt, Chat left her to the police and fled. 

* * *

Ladybug’s first sign that something was wrong was when Chat Noir didn’t turn around and greet her when she landed behind him on the eiffel tower. She was never able to sneak up on him, thanks to his enhanced hearing, nighttime vision, and general superhero senses, though he’d snuck up on her accidentally a few times when she was concentrating on something else.

“Chat Noir?”

He didn’t respond.

“Hey, Chat?” Ladybug placed a hand on his shoulder, and he finally looked over. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, sorry, just… thinking about Marinette.”

Ladybug’s eyes widened. Was it that bad? She thought it went well, but maybe Chat thought she was too bossy or flirted too much or figured out she was Ladybug or thought we was a total dork or-

“Lila’s been bullying her.”

“I- what?”

“Yeah, she told me about all these things Lila’s been doing at school.”

“Oh.” Ladybug had never really thought about what Lila was doing as bullying. Chloé, yes, but Lila… now that she thought of it, Chat was right. Lila was bullying her.

“I just feel so bad.”

Ladybug took a seat next to Chat. He leaned into her, and she wrapped her arm around him. “It’s not your fault, kitty.”

Chat made a non-committal sound. 

“You can tell me anything, you know,” Ladybug reminded him.

“Except my secret identity,” Chat muttered.

Ladybug stiffened, and Chat shot upright. “No! I mean, I mean, yeah, not our secret identities, but... I’m sorry, I swear I didn’t mean it like that.”

“No, you’re right. You don’t need to apologize,” Ladybug told him, but inside she was stinging. Is that why she never made any progress with Chat Noir? Because of their stupid identites? “I hate keeping them a secret too.”

“Then why do we?”

Ladybug hesitated. “You know the rules,” was all she said. Chat picked up on her hesitation and narrowed his eyes at her, but she didn’t elaborate. The truth was, she didn’t know what Master Fu had told him about the rules. And Master Fu wasn’t the guardian anymore. She wasn’t sure if the rules still applied. 

Identities seemed like a big step forward. One that she wasn’t quite ready to take. 

Ladybug sighed and tucked her knees into her chest. “Someday, we will tell each other our identities, Chat. I don’t know when. But... someday.” Resting her chin on her knees, she whispered, “I wish you could have been the first to find out mine.”

“I always assumed I would be,” Chat admitted quietly. 

Ladybug’s heart broke. Of _course_ he would be the first to find out her identity, she wanted to tell him. But she couldn’t. Clearing her throat, she said, “We really won’t be able to use Multimouse again, you know. She knows my identity. Giving her a miraculous would put us both at risk.”

“Yeah, I know.” Chat sighed. 

“It’s the best thing,” Ladybug continued. “And we’ll find other people to be heroes, so this won’t happen again and we won’t have to scramble trying to find someone, and-”

“Ladybug.” Chat raised his eyebrows at her, ever perceptive.

Ladybug quit her rambling and looked at him, trying not to let her hands shake. If he saw through her-

“You don’t have to worry about Marinette. She won’t tell anyone.”

He sounded so confident in her trustworthiness that Ladybug blushed. Turning her face away so he wouldn’t see, she said, “Thanks, Chat.”

“For what?”

“For not getting mad. I made a huge mistake today, letting Marinette see.”

“Hey, it’s not like you did it on purpose. Accidents happen.” his eyes shifted, and he said, “Is that Lila’s necklace?”

Ladybug startled, then brought out the pendant from where it had been attached to her hip. “I guess I should return this.” she sighed, not looking forward to it. She wasn’t sure she could get through a conversation with Lila without slapping her. Or hurling her into the Seine. Or-

“I could give it to her, if you want,” Chat offered. When Ladybug hesitated, he added, “I promise to give her a really hard time about it.” 

Ladybug couldn’t help the wry smile that sprang to her lips. Despite the huge barriers that stood between them, Chat was her partner. He knew her better than anyone. 

“Thanks, kitty.” she said, handing the necklace over. She was all too eager to be rid of it. “I’ll see you later.”

* * *

The next day, Adrien double checked that the fox pendant was tucked safely in his pocket before thanking his bodyguard. Heading over to where Lila was getting prepped for the afternoon’s photoshoot, he was immediately accosted by the makeup staff.

“Adrien! There you are, sit over here and we’ll get you and Miss Lila ready-”

“Actually, could you leave us alone for a minute?” Adrien asked.

The staff exchanged glances, then left. As soon as they were gone, the smile dropped from Adrien’s face and he went to sit next to Lila.

“Hi Adrien!” Lila said in a sing-song voice. “I heard we’re going to be in some pictures together today! Isn’t that awesome?”

Adrien ignored her. “I warned you once already, but you didn’t listen. You hurt Marinette, and that’s not okay.”

“Me? Hurting Marinette? But she’s the one who-”

“I don’t know how to prove you lied, Lila, because you’re good at it. So you’ll have to come up with another lie. Just as convincing. Only this time it’s going to prove Marinette’s innocent.”

“But she’s not innocent! She-”

Adrien pulled the fox pendant out of his pocket and let it dangle from his fingers. “Chat Noir disagrees.”

Lila’s innocent expression fell away. “You can’t prove anything.”

“Oh, I’m very aware. Just thought you should know that it would be in your best interest to leave Marinette alone.”

Lila turned to face forward. “And why is that, Adrien?”

“Because we’re friends, aren’t we?” Adrien let the implied threat hang for a moment before he dropped the necklace into her lap and waved the stylists back over. 

Working with Lila hadn’t been the most pleasant experience even before they were paired together, but Adrien was willing to put up with it if she got Marinette back in school and left her alone.

Still, he was immensely glad the photoshoot was over as he headed to the park for the party/baby shower thing. There was a surprising amount of people there- though he should have guessed, considering how much work Marinette had had to put into it. Any student from school who knew Ms Bustier had come, as well as most of the teachers and lots of parents. Looking around, Adrien didn’t see Lila or Mr. Damocles. He didn’t see Marinette or her parents, either. Hopefully that meant Lila was keeping her end of the deal.

He did see Alya and Nino, bent over Marinette’s clipboard, frantically whispering. Laughing to himself, he dodged a group of giggling girls and made his way over. 

“Having trouble?”

Nino’s head shot up. “Oh, thank god you're here, dude. Marinette left us in charge and we seriously need some help.”

Alya slapped his arm lightly. “Hey, speak for yourself.”

Nino shrugged. “Okay, Alya needs some help. I need to go get the music going.”

“Nino!”

“What? The party’s supposed to be starting now! Ms. Bustier will be here any minute.”

As he ran off, a car pulled up, and a woman Adrien didn’t recognize got out and helped Ms. Bustier out of the passenger seat. The entire group exploded in cheers. Adrien grinned and clapped.

Ms. Bustier pressed a hand to her chest. “Oh, my, what’s all this? Hello everyone!”

“Surprise!” everyone yelled, laughing.

“Welcome, Ms Bustier!” Marinette’s voice filled the park, and everyone turned to look at Marinette, who had arrived and was standing next to Nino on the DJ stand with a microphone. Her entire face glowed in the lights strung up (the same ones Adrien himself had painstakingly untangled). Mr. Damocles and Marinette’s parents were off to the side, and even farther along was Lila, who met Adrien’s eye and gave him a curt nod.

“Congratulations again on your baby! We wanted to thank you for being such an awesome teacher, and we know you’re going to be an amazing parent! Thank you for always being there for us!” Marinette waved and handed the microphone to Nino. 

Before she could hop off the stand, Mr. Damocles put a hand on her shoulder and took the microphone from Nino. “One other announcement before we begin.” 

Adrien grinned, glancing over at Alya, who looked apprehensive.

“In the spirit of this celebration of new beginnings, I would like to thank Miss Dupain-Cheng for organizing this event, even though it was not included in her duties as class representative, or expected of her after she was expelled from school.”

A strange hush fell over the group.

“Certain...circumstances have come to my attention, and in light of those facts and Miss Dupain-Cheng’s exemplary character, I am pleased to announce that Marinette’s expulsion has been reversed!”

There was a brief silence, then the park exploded in cheers. Ms. Bustier wrapped Marinette in a hug. Alya ran forward and threw her arms around them too, and suddenly Marinette was engulfed from all sides by friends and family.

Grinning from ear to ear, Adrien looked towards Lila, but she wasn’t there. Adrien scanned the crowd, but he didn’t see her.

* * *

Marinette couldn’t stop smiling. She wasn’t sure why Lila had decided to tell Mr. Damocles that she had a “lying disease” and convince him that he should reverse Marinette’s expulsion, but Marinette sure wasn’t going to complain.

“I _knew_ it was just a misunderstanding!” Alya crowed, throwing her arms around Marinette and almost knocking the wind out of her.

Marinette just smiled and hugged her back. “Thanks for having my back, Al.”

As she was surrounded by people congratulating her and telling her that they’d believed in her the whole time, she started to feel guilty for taking over Ms Bustier’s party, so she gently turned them away and signalled Nino to start the music. He was only too happy to oblige.

Marinette spent the next few hours happily dancing, serving drinks, chatting with Ms. Bustier and some students from another class, and watching Alya and Nino dance together. She also kept an eye on Adrien. She was still beating herself up a little about the whole Lila thing, and now that she was actually paying attention, she could see that girls were throwing themselves at Adrien, rather than he was flirting with a lot of girls, like she’d originally thought. Still, it didn’t look like he was trying particularly hard to get them off of his back, and let a few of them drag him onto the dance floor with him.

A couple hours later, as the party started to wind down and Nino announced the last slow song of the night, Marinette was pleased and grateful to decide that the baby shower had been a huge success. Watching her friends and parents dance slowly together, she was glad her temporary expulsion hadn’t thrown a wrench in the plans. 

Someone bumped into her, and she stumbled forward slightly. Turning around, she saw Adrien rubbing his arm. 

“Sorry,” he said sheepishly. Behind him, Alya was casually strolling away.

Marinette raised her eyebrows. She was normally the one running into people. “Hi, Adrien. Are you having a good time?”

“Great! It’s great. You did an awesome job.”

“Thanks,” Marinette said.

There was an awkward pause, then Adrien blurted out, “Do you want to dance?”

Marinette blinked at him, startled. A few weeks ago she would have refused. But she had to admit, she knew him better now. And Adrien had been one of the only people to stand up for her when she was accused of cheating and bullying.

A glance at Chloé, glaring at them from where she stood off to the side waiting to pounce on Adrien for a fifth dance, solidified her decision. “Sure,” she said. Adrien’s face lit up.

Marinette was surprised when, instead of putting both hands on her waist, he took one of her hands in his and started leading her in a waltz. It was kind of cool, actually, though she should have figured that the teen celebrity wouldn’t slow dance like a normal person.

“I never got to thank you,” Marinette told him after a moment.

“For what?” he asked.

“For defending me yesterday. When Lila said I was bullying her.”

Adrien glanced away. “It didn’t work, anyway. You still got thrown out.”

“Still. I really appreciate it.”

They fell back into awkward silence, neither of them really knowing what to say. Had this song always been this long? Marinette was glad Adrien was leading and knew what he was doing, because she was surprised she hadn’t tripped over her feet yet. 

Adrien looked at something over Marinette’s shoulder and blushed. She looked behind her, but saw only Nino busying himself with the records. 

Adrien pulled her closer, so they were waltzing in a smaller circle and it was harder to look anywhere but up at him. Until something else caught his eye off to the side. Marinette followed his gaze, and this time saw his bodyguard, stalking towards them.

“Oh no,” Adrien said. “I guess it’s time for me to go.”

He sounded so sad that Marinette couldn’t help but feel bad for him. Before they turned away, Marinette saw Alya run up to the hulking man and say something to him, blocking his path. 

“Before I have to go,” Adrien said, tightening his grip slightly and bringing her closer to him. “I wanted to tell you.”

Marinette looked up to where his green eyes were studying her face.

“This was an awesome party.” 

“Thanks,” Marinette said, trying not to let the question seep into her voice.

“I mean, it might have been better than Chloé's, but don’t tell her I said that.” he said with a sly grin.

Marinette’s lips twitched upward. “Chloé's party was crashed by a supervillain.” 

“Semantics. Anyway, my point is,” Adrien said, glancing to where his bodyguard was watching him, arms crossed, waiting to pounce as soon as the song ended. “I just wanted to say that I think it’s crazy that you managed to pull this amazing thing together for Ms. Bustier, and that you did it even after you were expelled. The thing is, you’re always helping people. Like that day you helped Juleka overcome her class photo curse. Or when you partnered Nathanael and Marc together to make that comic book. Or when you helped me get to the movies so I could see my mother on the screen. You’ve helped everyone, Marinette. We’ve always been abIe to count on you. That’s why we believe in you.” he paused, then said, “You’re our everyday Ladybug.”

The song came to an end and Marinette realized that at some point during Adrien’s speech they’d stopped dancing. She looked at him, waiting for the smirk or the wink or the punch line.

But it never came. Adrien just let her go. “Have a good evening, Marinette,” he said, before turning and making his way across the park to where his impatient bodyguard was standing with Alya.

Marinette blinked after him. She had never seen him so sincere. Did he really think she was like Ladybug? Before she knew what she was doing, she darted forward. “Adrien!” she called, only to bump into him when he turned around.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she took his face gently in her hands and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you,” she said softly.

A blush spread across his cheeks, and he ducked his head. “You’re welcome, Marinette.” he gave her a little wave, then left the park.

Marinette looked after him, almost in a daze. When he said that… it really had sounded like he meant it, for once.

“Damn,” Alya’s voice said from next to her. “You go, girl.”

Marinette turned to face her, startled out of her thoughts. “What?”

Alya raised an eyebrow. “Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. I know what I just saw.”

“Whatever, Alya. You know there’s only one guy for me.”

“I’m just saying, there’s no shame in falling for someone a little more attainable than one of Paris’ superheroes.”

Marinette shook her head absently, watching Adrien’s car drive off. “It’s not like that. I still think he’s…” she trailed off.

“Hey, you still with me?” Alya asked, snapping her fingers.

“Okay, I’ve made up my mind,” Marinette said, straightening.

“Uh oh,” Nino said, coming up behind them, carrying his box of records.

“Oh, hush,” Marinette told him. “It’s not going to be like last time.”

“What happened last time?” Alya asked, looking between them.

Nino grinned. “So, Marinette had this idea to-”

“Not important!” Marinette interrupted.

“Um, I think it’s very important.” Alya said. “As your best friend, I must know, and as Nino’s girlfriend, he must tell me.”

“That’s irrelevant right now,” Marinette informed them. “Right now, Adrien just spent the last hour dancing with girls who wouldn’t leave him alone because he won’t say no and get himself some space. So we’re going to do something about it. After all,” she added as Alya and Nino exchanged an uncertain glance. “As a wise and overall amazing friend once told me, ‘all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing’.”

Alya smirked at her. 

Nino still looked confused. “So what do you want us to do?” he asked.

“Well,” Marinette said slowly. “How hard do you think it would be to get the class to keep Chloé and Lila away from Adrien? You know, just to show him how it’s done.”

“Not hard at all,” Nino said, a smile stretching across his face.

Alya rubbed her hands together. “When do we start?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaand Operation: Sunshine Child turns into the Sunshine Child Protection Squad.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kind of had a hard time with this chapter. Writing Lila and keeping everyone in character is so hard.

Marinette watched with apprehension from the school steps Monday morning as Lila waved at Adrien and ran to catch up with him. She knew she could count on her friends to stand up to Chloè, but Lila was a whole other story. She wouldn’t be surprised if Lila managed to talk her way through them.

Luckily, it turned out she didn’t need to worry. Adrien had just barely noticed Lila when Nino slung his arm around his shoulders and led him up the steps to school. Lila was about to follow, but Alya ran up to her, talking excitedly and waving her phone. 

Alya had promised Marinette that she would talk to Lila “about the situation”. Marinette didn’t know exactly what “the situation” was, but according to Alya, “She’ll understand. I’ve got it, girl,” so Marinette let it go. 

Following her friends into the school, Marinette smiled in satisfaction. So far, so good.

* * *

It took Adrien a while to realize that his friends were acting weird. To be fair, they were being surprisingly subtle about it, mostly accompanying him to classes and never leaving an open seat next to him.

Adrien was too distracted most of the morning to think much of it. Marinette had kissed him! Twice! He brushed his hand gently across the tip of his nose, then his cheek. He had never wished to not sit in the front row so badly. He could sense Marinette behind him in every class like she was a beacon, and it made it very hard to concentrate on the lessons and not turn around to stare at her like a lovesick fool.

Adrien was on his way to the library when Lila caught up to him, putting her arm around his shoulder. “Hi, Adrien! Are you going to the library?”

“Yeah,” he responded, still thinking about Marinette, and how she’d said “see you later” the last time she’d seen Chat Noir.

“Great! You can help me study! I really could use some help with physics.”

“Uh huh,” Adrien said absently. Did Marinette really mean ‘see you later’? Did that mean she wanted to see him again? 

Alya caught Lila’s arm. “Hey, girl, can I talk to you about something?” her eyes darted toward Adrien.

“Go ahead, Lila. I’ll be in the library,” Adrien said, ducking out from under Lila’s arm and watching Alya lead her away. Did Marinette expect to see him later? Why was he even thinking about this? He couldn’t see her as Chat Noir.

… Right?

He shook his head as he sat down in the library. The seats around him were immediately filled by Alix, Rose, and Nathanael. He looked at them in surprise. Since when had they sat with him? Didn’t they normally go to the art room?

He replayed the morning in his head, cataloguing their strange behavior. It wasn’t until he remembered Alya dragging Lila away moments before that it clicked.

“Look, I appreciate this,” he told Alix, who was chilling next to him, sitting in her chair backwards, “but I can deal with Lila on my own. You guys don’t need to babysit me.” 

Alix gave him a skeptical look. “If you could, we wouldn’t have to.” 

Adrien narrowed his eyes at the small girl. She didn’t normally care all that much about the class’s drama, though she was often one of the quickest to snap back at Chloè, after Marinette and Alya. “Did Marinette put you up to this?”

Alix pretended not to hear him.

* * *

It was basically the end of the school day, and Marinette had yet to see Adrien get tackled, clung to, or surrounded. Wherever Adrien went, he was with Nino or some of the other boys, and whenever Lila or some of the girls in other classes approached him, they were suspiciously surrounded by Alya, Mylene, and Rose, chattering excitedly. Fortunately, Chloè wasn’t too difficult during class; apparently she didn’t like hanging out with Adrien unless he wasn’t with “those losers”. Marinette wasn’t sure how long that would last, though.

Marinette was at her locker after school when she was approached by Adrien. “Really, I’m totally fine with hanging out with Chloè and Lila.” he told her. “You guys didn’t need to do this for me.”

Marinette kept her eyes on her locker as she put her textbook away. “What do you mean?” she asked, trying to sound confused. “I’m not doing anything.”

She could hear the smile in his voice as he told her, “You can pretend all you want that you still don’t like me, but there’s only one person who could get the entire class to act like my own personal security team.”

Marinette closed her locker. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Agreste,” she said, but kept her face turned away as she zipped her bag up, in case he could see the truth in her twitching mouth.

“What do you mean, Adrikins isn’t in here?” Marinette sighed as Chloè shrieked from somewhere around the corner. “I saw him walk in here!”

Marinette motioned for Adrien to stay put and peeked her head around the corner in time to see Kim shrug.

“Well, yeah, but he left.”

“Left where?” Chloè spun on Alix, who was standing nearby, on lookout duty.

“Home? Chinese lesson?” Alix said, bouncing a basketball up and down a few times. “How would I know? Go do your nails or whatever.”

Chloè did not take to that kindly at all. No one could claim that Alix was great at deescalation, but she could hold her own, which is why Alya and Marinette had recruited her help. If it had been someone more sensitive - like Rose - getting yelled at, Marinette would probably be sneaking away to transform into Ladybug by now. That’s what usually happened when Chloè didn’t get her way.

Marinette suddenly realized that Adrien had come up behind her and was also watching the Alix/Chloè showdown. He smiled and shook his head. “She’ll never change,” he said fondly.

Marinette blinked at him. Seriously? He was watching Chloè hurl insults at Alix and that was all he had to say about her behavior? 

“What?” Adrien asked when he saw her exasperated look.

“That’s all you have to say?” she said, a little more huffily than she meant to.

His forehead crinkled in confusion. “What do you want me to say?”

“Whatever, Sunshine.” Marinette turned to leave. She wasn’t really in the mood to have this argument with him yet again. 

She was halfway to the door when she heard Adrien say quietly, “Why are girls so confusing?”

Marinette whirled around. “We’re really not that hard to understand once you listen to us, Agreste. Why don’t you try it sometime?” And with that, she stalked out the door.

Marinette felt her purse pop open and she looked down to see two big indigo eyes looking up at her reproachfully.

“What?” Marinette asked defensively. “Just because he’s willing to put up with other people’s bullshit doesn’t mean I have to put up with his.”

Okay, maybe she was being a little harsh. But why couldn’t he see that his friend was bullying people? Why did he never do anything about it? Chloè had thrown that one party to “prove” she could be nice, and now Adrien was appeased, even though she was still being a total brat.

“Don’t you think you should have talked to him, instead of storming off?” Tikki asked her pointedly. “You didn’t even tell him why you got upset.”

“You’re probably right,” Marinette said, glancing behind her, “but you know I can’t have a productive conversation when I’m annoyed. I’ll talk to him later.” Marinette sighed. “Though it might be time to give it up as a lost cause.” If he wasn’t going to stand up for himself and other people when he had the whole class on his side, would he ever?

* * *

Adrien started after Marinette, then stopped. Should he go after her? She seemed pretty annoyed. He cringed internally. He hadn’t meant for her to hear his whispered comment to Plagg.

Kim walked up to him, a duffel bag slung over his shoulder. “Dude. What did you say to her?”

“I have no idea.”

“Well, maybe we should be helping you avoid Marinette, too. She looks _pissed._ ” Kim didn’t sound nearly as sympathetic as Adrien would have liked as he clapped him on the shoulder and left.

Adrien sighed and opened his bag a little to talk to Plagg. “I feel like for every step I take forward, I end up taking two steps back.” 

He paused.

“Plagg? What do I do now?”

The only response was a soft snore.

Adrien sighed and closed his bag. He’d ask Nino.

* * *

Alya wasn’t sure what was going on with Lila.

Nino had sworn up and down that Lila told him she didn’t have a crush on Adrien.

And Lila was so insistent on the fact that she and Adrien were friends, probably because she knew how few Adrien had to begin with.

So what was her problem?

“Is it Marinette?” Alya asked her. “Because she’s just trying to help out Adrien.”

“Yes, of course she is,” Lila said quickly. “It’s just that I don’t understand why I have to stay away from Adrien. We’re friends.”

“I’m not saying you have to stay away from Adrien.” Alya told her, a little frustrated now. They’d been going around in circles for ages, already. “All I’m saying is that maybe you should consider giving him some space. You know, a break from all the drama.”

Lila crossed her arms. “So you're telling me to stay away from him because I’m a drama queen?” she looked away and her voice took on a strained quality. “Marinette put you up to this, right? She’s trying to isolate me.”

Alya put her hand on Lila’s shoulder. Lila looked up at her gratefully, but Alya said firmly, “Marinette is _not_ trying to isolate you, Lila. I promise. That was a misunderstanding.”

“Of course, you’re right. Marinette’s too nice to do anything like that. Then what are you saying?”

“I’m saying that Adrien hasn’t had many friends before this year, so maybe you should hang back and figure out how much contact Adrien is comfortable with. Take your cues from him.”

“Adrien doesn’t have a problem with me.” Lila said. “We’re really close, from doing photoshoots together and stuff.”

“Then there shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

“No, of course not, Alya. Sorry, I get it now.”

“Good,” Alya said, relieved.

She said goodbye to Lila and went to go find Nino.

He was in the library talking to Adrien, and for a moment Alya was still too wrapped up in her strange one-on-one with Lila to register what they were talking about.

“Dude, how am I supposed to know?”

“You’re the one with a girlfriend!”

“Yeah, but we don’t do stuff like that. I mean, I get Alya flowers sometimes.”

“Hey boys, what’s up?” Alya asked, joining them.

Nino smirked at Adrien and elbowed him.

Adrien sighed and told her, “Marinette’s mad at me again-”

“Again?” Alya sighed at him. “What did you do this time?”

“I don’t know! I’m going to go get some flowers and candy and-”

“Woah, hold up there, dude.” Alya said, holding out her hands. “Why?”

“Because Chloè told me you have to buy a girl presents if you make her upset.”

“Of course Chloè told you that,” Nino muttered.

Alya crossed her arms. “I thought we established that you were not going to listen to Chloè anymore.”

“Yeah,” Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s why I came to ask you guys first.”

“Smart move, girl. Trust me, you don’t need a big gesture or anything. Save it. Just talk to her tomorrow-”

“Tomorrow? I can’t wait until tomorrow, I’m going now.”

Alya exchanged a glance with Nino.

“Um, don’t you have fencing in like… now?” Nino pointed out.

“So? The bakery’s close.”

Alya shook her head at him. “This is a conversation you need to have when you’re not rushed because you’re supposed to be somewhere else. I will talk to her today. You talk to her tomorrow.” 

In all honesty, Alya didn’t think it was as big of a deal as Adrien was making it. They were both such drama queens, honestly. No wonder they were perfect for each other, she mused as Adrien said his goodbyes and left for fencing.

Alya’s mind wandered back over to her recent conversation with Lila. There was something strange about it, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. It left her feeling mildly unsettled. And she didn’t like it.

* * *

Adrien wasn’t going to wait until tomorrow. He couldn’t go a full day with Marinette being upset and thinking he… whatever she thought. Unfortunately, Adrien was not typically allowed to just stop by a friend’s house.

But Chat Noir could.

“Ladybug would probably disapprove.” he told Plagg as soon as he got home.

“Yeah, she’d definitely disapprove.” he told Plagg ten minutes later, while Plagg was eating some cheese.

“She doesn’t have to know, right?” Adrien said a few minutes later, pacing his bedroom floor.

“This is probably a bad idea.” he said finally, collapsing on his bed.

He went anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because the answer to Marichat is always yes.
> 
> Let me know what you think!


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a little late, but it is still Thursday, technically. The holidays crept up on me, and I’m suddenly really busy. I may go down to posting once a week if I have to, but I’d rather not do that if I don’t have to.

This was such a bad idea, Chat Noir thought as he ran across the rooftops. What was he even going to do once he got to Marinette’s? Knock on the front door? _Hello, Mr. Dupain and Mrs. Cheng. I was just wondering if I could hang out with your daughter? In her bedroom? Alone?_ What did he think he was doing? He wouldn’t even be able to talk to her about what happened at school, since Chat Noir was supposed to know nothing about that.

Once the bakery came into view, he stopped so fast he almost fell over and ducked behind a chimney. Marinette was up on her rooftop balcony, leaning against the railing. He wasn’t sure if she’d seen him yet.

He peeked around the chimney. Marinette hadn’t moved, but was gazing off somewhere as if lost in thought. He wondered what she was thinking about.

Should he leave? He probably shouldn’t be watching her from a rooftop like a stalker. But this was a perfect opportunity to talk to her. It wouldn’t be weird to just stop and say hi, right? It’s not like she didn’t know Chat Noir.

So Chat went, landing quietly on the chimney behind Marinette, not wanting to startle her. Though, in hindsight, he probably should have approached from the front if he was trying to go for not scaring the daylights out of the love of his life.

“Hello,” he said hesitantly.

Marinette jolted a little and turned around. “Chat Noir?”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” It was pretty dark, but thanks to his night vision and the lights strung up on the balcony, he could see fairly well. He dropped down to the railing so he was more on Marinette’s level. 

“Is everything okay?” Marinette and Chat said together.

They blinked at each other, then both laughed.

“You first,” Chat offered. 

Marinette shrugged. “I was just wondering what you were doing here, is all.”

“I was just passing by and saw you up here. I thought I’d say hi.”

Marinette smiled at him. “Well then, hi.”

“Hi.” Chat grinned, but it quickly disappeared when he remembered why he was really here. “So, are you okay? You looked kind of upset.”

Marinette didn’t respond at first, and Chat quickly backpedaled. “I mean, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, I just thought-”

“No, it’s okay,” Marinette said. She patted the railing next to her. Chat came closer. Was it weird that he was up on the railing? It felt so natural when he was Chat Noir.

Marinette leaned her back against the rail and crossed her arms. “It’s just drama at school. It’s really not a big deal.”

Chat wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Of course he didn’t _want_ Marinette to be upset… He felt stuck. Once again, he was trying to comfort Marinette over something stupid becuase he couldn’t let on that he knew what was _really_ upsetting her. 

“I know the feeling,” he said. “It shouldn’t be a big deal, but it’s still upsetting.”

Marinette smiled wryly. “You’re having drama trouble, too?”

“You could say that,” Chat said evasively. _The same drama as you, even._

You could hang out here, if you want,” she suggested shyly. “Some company would be nice. That is, unless you have other superhero-ey things to do or something.”

“If you needed cheering up, all you had to do was ask,” Chat said, trying not to show how pleased he was at Marinette’s invitation. “We can talk about Multimouse. You know, that awesome new superheroine? Have I told you how great she is? She’s my new idol. Multimouse looks at her drama in the face and kicks its ass.”

Marinette rolled her eyes, but she was laughing. Marinette laughing was a truly wonderful sound. It only lasted a moment though. “Thanks, but it doesn’t matter anyway. I’m not going to be Multimouse anymore.”

“I wish you could be. Hawkmoth wouldn’t know what hit him.”

“It was pretty nice. Being a superhero, knowing I was helping you take down a supervillain.” Marinette looked away, out towards the city. “I liked working with you.”

She could have been talking about helping them as superheroes, saving Paris. But Chat couldn’t help but notice that she hadn’t said “you and Ladybug”. She’d said “ _you_ ”. As in _him_. It was a little odd to hear. In Paris, it was always “Ladybug” or “Ladybug and Chat Noir”. Never just “Chat Noir”. And Chat understood why his partner tended to get most of the recognition, he really did. And he didn’t mind. She deserved it, and he got enough media exposure as Adrien. 

But coming from Marinette, he couldn’t help but wonder if maybe she wasn’t talking about helping him as a superhero.

Marinette sighed. “You and Ladybug gave me another chance, and I messed it up. _Again_.”

“Hey, Ladybug doesn’t blame you for finding out her identity. She knows she can trust you. Or she wouldn’t have given you a miraculous in the first place, remember?”

Marinette looked at him. 

Chat didn’t break eye contact. “You don’t look like you believe me, Princess, so let me tell you. We’re friends, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, good. That would have been awkward.”

Marinette smiled again. Chat gave himself a mental pat on the back. “I promise, you were a great superheroine. Just because you revealed your identity and then found out Ladybug’s doesn’t change that. Ladybug and I make mistakes all the time. Don’t worry about it.”

“You seem to have a very high opinion of Multimouse.” was all Marinette said.

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No, just… do you think Multimouse is different than Marinette? Because I don’t.”

“Neither do I.”

“Good. That would have been awkward.”

They shared a smile.

“You’re really okay with me knowing Ladybug’s identity?”

“I really am, Marinette. And you’re okay with not being Multimouse again?”

Marinette smiled at him. “Of course it’s okay, Chat Noir. What’s important is that Ladybug stays safe. And if that means I don’t get a miraculous again, then so be it.” She looked up at him out of the corner of her eye. “As long as we get to stay friends, I think I’m good.”

And… there it was. Chat’s pulse quickened. Who was this girl, that she would so willingly and selflessly give up being a superhero? And she wanted to be friends with him! It was better than her relationship with Adrien.

“How can you do that?” he asked in wonder.

“Do what?”

“Just… up and accept it like that? Not getting a miraculous again?”

Marinette raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m not Chloé, you know. I don’t feel entitled to a miraculous.” 

“Thank goodness,” Chat muttered. “One Chloé is enough for me.”

Marinette giggled, and Chat was suddenly struck with a thought.

“Hey… how come Multimouse wasn’t at the battle with Miracle Queen?”

Marinette tensed beside him. “What?”

“I mean… I don’t know if I should really be telling you this, but Chloé got akumatized and mind controlled everyone. She revealed the identities of all the superheroes in Paris, then gave them their miraculous and had them fight me and Ladybug. But you weren’t there.”

“What? I, um, I d-don’t know, I don’t remember that at all. I mean, no one knows about Multimouse, so Chloé and Hawkmoth wouldn’t have known to look, right?” Marinette was searching his face, as if seeing if he’d agree with her theory.

“That makes sense,” Chat said slowly. “But Hawkmoth didn’t necessarily know about some of the other miraculous holders, either”

“Well, uh, I guess I didn’t count as a miraculous holder, because Ladybug told me I wouldn’t be getting my miraculous again!”

“But Ryuuko was there,” Chat argued. “Except, Ladybug did give her the Dragon again. I bet you’re right. Funny loophole, huh?”

“Yeah,” Marinette said after a moment. “That was pretty lucky.”

Chat stayed with Marinette, chatting on her balcony for a lot longer than was sensible, given that it was a school night. He couldn’t bring himself to regret it.

Chat flipped into his room through his window. “Claws off.”

Adrien spun around once and flopped backwards onto his bed with a happy sigh. There was no way he was going to be able to sleep tonight, he thought as Plagg floated off somewhere.

He’d thought a lot about his conversation with Marinette on the way back to the house, and he couldn’t help but wonder why Marinette was so much easier to talk to when he was Chat Noir than when he was Adrien. Was this how it was always going to be from now on? Constant arguments and nitpicking and accidentally offending her as Adrien, only being able to be her friend and try to win her over as Chat Noir?

No, it couldn’t be like that. It wouldn’t be safe to have a super close relationship with her as Chat Noir. It was the same reason they kept their identities a secret. It would endanger her, and through her, Ladybug. No way was he going to do that. He would have to keep trying as Adrien.

It wasn’t working as Adrien, though. Today was just more proof that Marinette liked Chat Noir way better than she liked Adrien. Why, though?

“Plagg?” Adrien asked, not moving from his position on his bed. 

“What?” Plagg’s voice was muffled as if he was talking from across the room through a mouthful of camembert.

“Do I act differently as Adrien and Chat Noir?”

“Well, duh. Of course you do.”

“Huh.” Adrien closed his eyes briefly, then suddenly sat bolt upright. “Do I act differently around Marinette?”

There was a brief pause, then a cardboard box hit him in the head.

“Hey! Did you come all the way over here just to throw that at me?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because that was a stupid question, and if you’re going to interupt my much needed cheese time, don’t do it with dumb questions you already know the answers to!”

“At least it wasn’t camembert.” Adrien muttered.

“Of course not,” Plagg sniffed. “That would be a waste of cheese.” His voice softed for a second. “Look, kid, think about it. Have you really not noticed all the dumb jokes you make when you’re around Marinette?”

“My jokes aren’t dumb.”

“Yeah, yeah. Lemme tell you, all the Chat Noirs did this.”

“Did what?”

“Dumb things to get the attention of La… the person they liked.”

Plagg flew off to finish his cheese before Adrien could protest.

Was that what it was all about? _Trying to make Marinette jealous isn’t going to work… Mixed signals, much?... You don’t need a big gesture or anything…_

That couldn’t be right. Marinette was okay with Adrien sometimes, like when he danced with her. She’d even given him a kiss on the cheek after.

_Just be yourself. Show her that you really do want to be friends._

And when she didn’t like to be around him, it was because…

_You can’t just ignore other people’s feelings… Don’t push you luck, Sunshine… We’re really not that hard to understand once you listen to us, Agreste._

What was it? Adrien smashed a pillow over his head as he tried to figure it out, comparing all the times Marinette had been upset with him, dragging it up from wherever his brain put the things he tried to forget. He always ended up accidentally upsetting Marinette... why?

_I’m not going to be the person who just sat back and let that happen to them… You shouldn’t have to put up with that if it’s making you uncomfortable… If you’re not going to stand up for yourself, I’ll do it for you… That’s all you have to say?_

Adrien didn’t want to be Marinette’s project. He wanted her to love him. To see him as he was, not as the teen model with daddy issues. He didn’t want Marinette to “fix” him. That wasn’t her job. 

_Just because you’re a celebrity doesn’t mean you have to deal with that kind of stuff._ But maybe that didn’t mean he had to pretend he wasn’t a little broken.

“Plagg!”

“Are you done with your angsting yet? One of us is actually trying to sleep.”

Adrien ignored him. “Did I ever explain the gum to Marinette?” 

“No.” 

“Really?”

“Yeah, you started getting all sappy and scared of talking to her.”

“Oh.”

How had he missed that? Was he always like this? Brushing off every misstep in the hopes that she’d just forget about it and he’d sweep her off her feet the next day? Always talking, never listening?

 _You are the most sincere person I know when you’re not cracking jokes and trying to be the cool cat._ No, he wasn’t always like this. It was just with Marinette. But she deserved better.

 _But at some point, you need to start being yourself and trust that that will be enough._ He was being himself when he talked to Marinette on her balcony. And when he’d danced with her. And when they’d fought together as Multimouse and Chat Noir.

Adrien removed the pillow from his head and stared at the ceiling. How had he never noticed that he acted like a completely insensitive douche around Marinette? He knew he was better than that. He _was_ better than that, when he was Chat Noir.

It’s never too late to make things right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, that got deep there at the end. Adrien’s being a little bit hard on himself, but hey, the dude had to realize it at some point. I’m actually pretty happy with how this turned out and I’m VERY excited for the next chapter. Comment and let me know what you think!]


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta da! The much awaited, very fun to write next chapter. 
> 
> Italics are a flashback to the origins episode, because it seemed appropriate. The stuff not it italics happens much later, the day after the Chat Noir’s conversation with Marinette and his subsequent realization.

_“Hey,” Adrien said, holding out his hand. “Adrien.”_

_The boy sitting next to him simply raised his eyebrows, head propped up on his arm. “You’re friends with Chloe, then, huh?” he said, deep voice dripping with distaste, looking somewhere over Adrien’s shoulder._

_Adrien glanced at Chloe in surprise. She was handing her chewed-up gum to her red-headed friend, who put it on the bench across the aisle from where Adrien and his seat partner were sitting._

_“Hey! What’s that all about?”_

_“The brats that sat here yesterday need a little attitude adjustment. I’m just commanding a bit of respect, that’s all.”_

_“You think that’s really necessary?” Adrien asked, pushing past Chloe to poke at the gum, seeing if there was any way to get it off. How was putting gum on their seat an “attitude adjustment”?_

_Chloe laughed. “Oh, you’ve got a lot to learn about school culture, Adrikins. Watch the master.”_

_Adrien ignored her, still trying to get the gum off the seat. It was really stuck on there. It was pretty gross, actually._

_There was a gasp, then a voice from behind Adrien said, “Hey! What are you doing?”_

_Adrien spun around to see a cute pigtailed girl looming over him angrily._

_“Oh!” he said, frantically searching for a way to explain what, exactly, he was doing. “I, uh-”_

_Chloe and Sabrina burst out laughing. Adrien stuttered to a stop helplessly._

_The pigtailed girl narrowed her eyes at them. “Okay, I get it. Good job, you three. Very funny.”_

_Adrien stood up. “No, no, I was just trying to take this off!”_

_The girl stepped forward, making Adrien realize that she was quite shorter than him. “Oh, really?”_

_She squatted down to try to get the gum off herself. Chloe and Sabrina were still laughing, and Adrien couldn’t help but feel betrayed. Why was Chloe dragging him into this?_

_The girl gave up and put a napkin over the gum. “You’re friends with Chloe, right?” she said, looking up at Adrien with the same expression of distaste that the boy with the headphones had had earlier._

_Adrien lowered his eyes. “Why do people keep saying that?”_

* * *

_“We’re clear to attack!”_

_“Wait!” Ladybug said, spinning towards Officer Roger and holding up both hands. “Don’t attack them, you know it will only make it worse!”_

_“I’ve got a new plan, unlike you, move aside and let the pros do their things, you’ve already failed once!” Officer Roger pointed a finger at Ladybug accusingly._

_Ladybug looked down, all the worries and insecurities she’d been suppressing since she became Ladybug again bubbling back up to the surface. “He’s right, you know,” she said, turning toward her new partner. “If I’d captured Stoneheart’s akuma the first time around, none of this would have happened!” She could feel her voice rising as she fought the urge to cry or go into hysterics. She clapped her hands over her eyes. “I knew I wasn’t the right one for this job.”_

_To her surprise, a gloved hand grasped her firmly by the shoulder. “No.”_

_Ladybug looked up._

_“He’s wrong. Because without you, she’d no longer be here.”_

_Ladybug followed his gaze to where Chloe was hugging her father._

_“And because without us, they won’t make it. And we’ll prove that to them.” Chat grabbed both her shoulders and turned her so she was facing him. “Trust me on this, okay?”_

_Ladybug blinked. He was looking at her with all the confidence and caring of a real superhero. Like he really thought she could fix this, even though they’d only just met recently._

_And that was when she knew she was gone._

_“Okay,” she said smiling at him._

* * *

_Adrien sprinted the entire way to the classroom, ecstatic that his father was letting him come to school! He skidded to a stop in front of the classroom door, not wanting people to know he’d been running._

_“What is that supposed to mean?” he heard Chloe’s voice drifting through the open door, and he peeked in. Chloe was standing in the front with Sabrina, facing the cute girl from before and her friend, who were sitting in the same seats Chloe and Sabrina had been in earlier._

_“It means that I’m not putting up with your crud anymore, Chloe, and neither is anyone else around here.” The girl stood up. “So take your attitude and go on, get lost!”_

_Adrien felt his jaw drop. He had never seen anyone stand up to Chloe before. Not her dad, not her butler, nobody._

_The entire class laughed, making Adrien wonder if Chloe’s behavior was normal around here. As Chloe scowled and stalked to the seats across the aisle, the girl sat down and smiled to herself._

_And that was when Adrien knew he was gone._

_Adrien walked into the room. Nino gave him a salute. Adrien tried waving to the girl, but she sniffed and turned her head away._

_Oh, well. There would be lots of chances to get to know her. They went to school together, after all._

* * *

The day after her visit from Chat Noir, Marinette stood outside the school, holding her hand out to see if she could possibly make it home without getting soaked by the rain coming down in torrents. Most everyone had left already, but Marinette had stupidly stayed behind for a bit and let herself get caught in the thunderstorm. 

She had just resigned herself to a mad dash home through the rain when a voice came from behind her. 

“Hey.” 

Marinette didn’t turn, silently deciding whether to respond. It was petty, she knew. Adrien didn’t really deserve the silent treatment. She couldn’t help but feel bad, especially after the talks she’d gotten from both Tikki and Alya since yesterday.

Adrien stepped up next to her, twisting a plain black umbrella in his hands. She could feel him watching her, but she kept her gaze on the building across the street.

He sighed. “Look, about yesterday…” 

Marinette finally turned to look at him. 

“I, uh...” He swallowed. “I’m sorry. For what I said. That wasn’t fair to you. And I realized yesterday that there’s a lot of things I haven’t apologized for.” He met her gaze and didn’t look away. “I just wanted you to know… when we first met, with the gum and all, I really was trying to take it off your seat. I swear. I know that was a long time ago, but... I’m sorry.”

Marinette just watched him curiously. That wasn’t what she’d been expecting. He still hadn’t looked away from her, as if he wanted her to know how much he meant it. She didn’t say anything, waiting instead for him to continue.

“Going to school and making friends are all sort of new to me. And I keep messing it up and I’m really sorry for that. But I’m trying, I swear. I meant what I said in the park a few days ago and I’ll say it again if you need me to.” 

What he’d said in the park… _We’ve always been able to count on you. You’re our everyday Ladybug._

Adrien’s mouth moved as if he wanted to say something else, but changed his mind, instead glancing toward his car, then back at her. “So… do you think we can maybe start over?”

He offered the closed umbrella to her.

Marinette glanced at his hand, then back up at his face. She saw the same sincerity she’d seen when they danced that day in the park, the same concern as when he’d offered her his jacket that day at the pool, the same hopefulness as when he’d asked her to stay with him that day in the movie theatre.

He waited. Letting her decide.

Marinette reached out tentatively, then took the umbrella from him. “Okay,” she said softly. Realizing he probably couldn’t hear her over the persistent drumming of the rain, she said it again, louder. “Okay.”

And when a shy smile spread across his face, she knew she wouldn’t regret it.

She opened the umbrella and held it over both of them as they walked down the steps to Adrien’s car. When they reached it, she put her backpack on the ground and moved the umbrella to her left hand so she could hold out her right to Adrien in an offering. “Marinette.”

Adrien smiled and stepped forward to shake it. “Adrien.”

Suddenly, the umbrella snapped closed on Marinette and she squeaked in surprise as she got a face full of wire and dark fabric.

She heard Adrien trying and failing to suppress his surprised laughter before he helped her open the umbrella again. “See you tomorrow,” he said once she and the umbrella were all sorted out.

Marinette waved as his car drove off. “Do you think I did the right thing, Tikki?” she asked after a moment.

Tikki flew up out of her purse. “Of course you did, Marinette. I’m proud of you.”

Marinette nodded to herself, picked up her backpack, and headed home. She wasn’t done with him. Not by a long shot. But it looked like maybe he was willing to try. And the least she could do was the same.

* * *

The next few days at school were… okay, if he was being honest, kind of anticlimactic. Just short of awkward, neither Marinette nor Adrien really seemed to know how to act around each other. Still, Adrien prefered it to school days before. Marinette went out of her way to say hi to him every morning, and he returned the favor. They didn’t talk by themselves much beyond simple pleasantries, but the conversations between Alya and Nino, or Nino and Adrien, or Alya and Marinette quickly became banter between the four of them during class.

As inadequate as it felt, Marinette really seemed to be making an effort to be his friend and include him now. It was a start. And he wasn’t going to let it go to waste.

Alya and Nino _definitely_ noticed the difference, but he was reluctant to share the details of those few minutes together in the rain. It wasn’t like anything really happened, he just… wanted to keep it to himself for a bit. It was a special thing, just between him and Marinette. Considering that Alya was pestering him just as much as Nino was, Marinette hadn’t told them what happened either, and that pleased Adrien more than he cared to admit.

“It’s really not that big of a deal,” Adrien finally told Nino the upteenth time he asked, a week after the fact. “I just took your advice. That’s all.”

“About time, dude. So _what happened_?”

Adrien sighed. “If I tell you, will you leave me alone?”

He waited until Nino agreed before continuing. 

“I talked to her. And I apologized for the gum-”

“Um, the gum from _the beginning of the school year_?”

“Yes, that gum. And I told her that I was just trying to make friends and asked if we could start over.” He left out the part about the umbrella and the handshake and Marinette’s adorable embarrassed face when the umbrella had closed on her unexpectedly. Nino didn’t need to know any of that.

“That’s it?” Nino asked as Marinette and Alya walked into the classroom.

Adrien shushed him and nodded towards the girls. 

Nino rolled his eyes at him, but played along. “What’s up, dudettes?” he said as Alya bent to kiss him on both cheeks.

“Hi, Nino, Adrien,” Marinette said, giving Adrien a friendly nod and smile that made him feel like melting in his seat.

“We still on for ice cream later, Nino?” Alya asked her boyfriend.

“Sure thing,” Nino told her.

Adrien looked at him, exasperated. “I thought we were hanging out today.”

Nino reached up to scratch the back of his head. “Oh, shoot. You’re right. Sorry, I forgot.”

“You could tag along,” Alya suggested. “If your dad’s letting you out of the house, we better make the most of it.”

“Why don’t we all go?” Marinette said. Alya looked at her in obvious surprise as Marinette headed up toward her seat, bending down to stage-whisper to Adrien, “Trust me, you do not want to be stuck third-wheeling those two.”

Adrien snickered at their friends’ expressions.

Alya shook her head and walked up to join Marinette in their seats, saying quietly to Nino, “This is going to take some getting used to.”

Nino leaned over to whisper to Adrien. “I guess I can’t judge, because it looked like whatever you did worked.”

As Ms Bustier started class, Adrien couldn’t help but agree.

* * *

After all the times Alya and Nino had ganged up to tease her, Marinette was glad she finally had someone to help her give them a taste of their own medicine. The dynamic between her and Adrien was still a little rocky, and it was a strange way to start a friendship, but for now, at least, it seemed to be working.

That could change, of course, once they hit an actual speed bump.

The four of them hadn’t gone to Andre’s, instead choosing a small cafe-style ice cream parlor not far from the school. It had been Marinette’s suggestion, so that they wouldn’t waste Adrien’s precious free time tracking down Andre’s cart, but in reality she didn’t want to see what would happen if Alya saw the dark chocolate and mint concoction she’d gotten last time, on her own, that was like a glowing red arrow pointing to her crush on Chat Noir.

So now they were sitting at a table outside, enjoying their sundaes and the warm weather. Or, they were for about fifteen minutes, until Alya said something about finding napkins and left with Nino following close behind.

“Hmm, ‘finding napkins’,” Marinette muttered. “Is that what they’re calling it these days?”

Adrien snorted a laugh. “Are they always like this?”

“Pretty much. Usually they’re good about not ditching me and keeping the PDA to a minimum, but I’m sure they figure it doesn’t matter if they ditch both of us.”

“We did kind of crash their date.” Adrien agreed.

“No, we invited ourselves. There’s a big difference.”

“Oh, my bad.”

“He did double-book on you, though.”

“Yeah, how _dairy_.” Adrien gestured at the melting ice cream with his spoon. 

Marinette stared at him. “What?”

“You know, dairy, dare he?”

“Yeah, I got it.” Marinette shook her head at him. “Puns, Agreste? Really?”

“It’s a high form of humor.”

“For a dad, maybe.”

Adrien hummed, seeming intent on his ice cream. “That’s fair. Honestly, I learned all my social skills from anime and Chloe.”

Marinette thought about… well, every interaction she’d ever had with him. “That explains a lot, actually.”

“Yeah, I didn’t have a lot to do at home by myself except play video games and go to my father’s events.”

Marinette nodded sagely. “That explains it.”

“I’ll have you know,” Adrien said, waving his spoon at her. “I’m awesome at small talk with old rich people.”

Marinette smiled. Talking to him was so easy, now, if a little random. If only she could get that cloud of uncertainty hovering over her head to disappear. “Did you say you liked video games? What do you play?”

“Ultimate Mecha Strike. It’s the best one.”

“Oh, that’s right. Didn’t you play with Max in that tournament?”

“Yeah. Do you play?”

“Yeah, sometimes I play with my parents.”

“Why didn’t you try out for the tournament, then?”

“I love video games, but I didn’t have time for a tournament. There are other things I like better that I’d rather devote my time to.”

Adrien nodded. “That’s cool.”

“Oh! I almost forgot,” Marinette told Adrien, rummaging through her backpack. “Here’s your umbrella. Sorry it took me so long to get it back to you. I kept forgetting it at home.”

Adrien blinked at her, then took the umbrella. “Oh. Thanks, but I didn’t really need it back.”

Marinette cocked her head in confusion “You weren’t expecting it back?”

Adrien shrugged. “Chloe never gives things back.”

Marinette blinked at him. “Never?” She was starting to realize why exactly, Adrien was so clueless. “Well, friends tend to return each other’s stuff. Most of the time,” she amended, thinking about the jacket she still hadn’t given back to Alya. 

Past Marinette (ok, Marinette from last week) would have demanded to know why Adrien let Chloe walk all over him like that. Present Marinette decided she would let it slide. For now. They weren’t done yet.

Alya and Nino returned before Marinette could decide what else to say. She did decide, however, that she was going to give being Adrien's friend a go. For real. All in. The poor boy needed some serious guidance.

Luckily, she’d just discovered something they had in common.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like one-line flashbacks, apparently. Who knew?
> 
> I would like to point out that in the show, Adrien makes puns occasionally and no one considers that he might be Chat Noir. So yeah.
> 
> Comment and let me know what you think!


	17. Chapter 17

Marinette had been riding the high of Chat Noir’s visit all week.

It wasn’t like she didn’t have deep conversations with him as Ladybug, but knowing that he was checking on her, and thinking about her, and not just talking during patrol was amazing. It meant more, to her. 

Her good mood was also bolstered by the sudden lack of drama at school. Alya and Nino had been friends with both Marinette and Adrien already, so the four of them quickly started hanging out together. It was nice to not be a third wheel anymore, Marinette had to admit. 

Alya was dying to know why Marinette was friends with Adrien all of a sudden. Marinette wasn’t one to keep things away from her best friend (besides the obvious), but this was iffy territory, so she told Alya to ask Adrien about it. She didn’t know if he wanted it shared. It was like Kim’s fear of spiders, or Chloé’s relationship with her mom. It was information she somehow ended up entrusted with, and she wasn’t about to go around sharing it. She would let Adrien make that call. 

Not that it was a big deal, or anything. It was just a conversation. Nothing like her balcony hangout with Chat Noir.

Not for the first time, she wondered what it would be like to have no masks between her and her partner as they ran around Paris on patrol. What was Chat Noir like, when he wasn’t being Chat Noir? Would they be friends and hangout as civilians? Did they already know each other? 

Ladybug forced herself away from that particular train of thought and focused on her actual partner, who was unusually quiet. Normally he wouldn’t shut up.

“Is everything okay, Chat Noir?” she asked him.

“Yeah. I’m just thinking.”

“About what?” she asked.

“About Marinette.” 

He said it so matter of factly that it didn’t register for a second in Ladybug’s head. When it did, she almost fell over, even though they were moving at a downright leisurely pace across the rooftops.

Pulling herself together, Ladybug raised an eyebrow, even as her stomach did a flip. “Yeah? You seem to be thinking about Marinette a lot these days.”

Chat’s head shot up and he blushed. 

_Interesting._ “Aw, does someone have a crush?” she teased, though inside she was simultaneously dying to know and trying not to get her hopes up. 

“No!”

“Oh.” Ladybug tried not to feel too disappointed. She shouldn’t have even considered it. He was just concerned about her, even though she’d done her best to put his mind at ease as Marinette.

“I mean, it’s not that I don’t _like_ her, I do, I like her a lot,”

“So you like her?”

“Of course I do. She’s amazing-an amazing friend.”

“Chat.”

He held her stare for a few seconds before cracking. “Oh, fine. I went to see her a few days ago, and I had a really good time. I really like her and I want to be friends with her, but I don’t know if I should.”

“Why not?” Ladybug asked. She was still confused over whether Chat had a crush on her or not.

“Because I’m a superhero?” He said it like a question. “I mean, I don’t want to accidentally attract attention to Marinette. It would put both of you in danger, since she knows your identity. I know how important our identities are to you, so you don’t have to worry about me seeing her anymore, promise.”

“Chat, I’m not going to tell you what to do. It’s your call.”

He looked at her curiously as they reached the end of their patrol. “You don’t think it would be inappropriate for a superhero to have a relationship with a civilian? I mean, a friendship?”

If it was anyone else, yes, she would have said it was inappropriate. But with Chat talking about her superhero self, Ladybug couldn’t make herself form the words.

“For the record,” Ladybug said, putting her hands on her hips. “Marinette’s a great girl. I wholeheartedly approve.” _Oh my god what am I saying?_ “If you had to choose someone other than me, of course.” _Shut up, shut up right now._

Chat laughed and reached over, giving one of Ladybug’s pigtails a playful tug. “Good to know, but you don’t have to pretend.”

Ladybug’s breath caught in her throat.

“I know the most important thing is keeping both of you safe,” he continued.

And there it was. Chat Noir, assuming that her attempts at flirting were nothing more than an inside joke, their very own acknowledgement of Paris’ attempts to get them together. Maybe someday she’d work up the nerve to tell him otherwise. Someday.

Ladybug smiled at him. “You’re a good superhero, kitty.”

“Not as good as you, he said, smiling back. “Well, milady, I must be off. Thanks for listening. Try not to miss me too much,” Chat said, giving her a salute.

Ladybug sighed as she watched him go. That was an impossible request, considering how much she was freaking out as she left to go home. Did he like her or not?

There was no way she was getting any sleep tonight. She might as well practice her Chinese. She had a great-uncle to greet tomorrow, after all.

Marinette was on the verge of panicking. Of course she’d agreed when her parents left her in charge of her great-uncle while they were busy in the bakery. Unfortunately, she didn’t speak Chinese, and her study session last night hadn’t been a lot of help. To put the cherry on top, the stupid app she downloaded was’t working properly.

Finally giving up on the phone, she tried for a smile and stepped aside to invite him in. This was a disaster waiting to happen. What was she supposed to do if she couldn’t talk to him? He was appearing on the show tonight!

Marinette pulled out her phone again and dialed Alya. Straight to voicemail. Dammit, Alya. Of course she had to turn off her phone right when Marinette needed her. A pang of concern hit her. Alya never turned off her phone, she always had it on in case of akuma attacks or something. More likely it had gone dead by accident.

But Marinette couldn’t think about that; she had a crisis to deal with.

So she scrolled up through her contacts until she reached the name she had once deleted from her phone, only to put it back at the ice cream parlor a few days ago. She hesitated. She thought she remembered something about Adrien speaking Chinese, but she wasn’t sure if they were at the point where she could ask for help yet. And there was also her pride to consider. 

But she was desperate. Before she could change her mind, she hit the call button. She was screwed anyway; might as well go all in.

* * *

Adrien had finally come to a decision.

It had taken a lot of deliberating. He had made a lot of bad decisions recently, especially when it came to Marinette, and he was determined not to screw it up this time. Ladybug had been a great listener, and he could tell she was trying to be supportive and keep an open mind, but he knew what she really thought.

Neither of them wanted another Miracle Queen incident.

But he didn’t want to suddenly ghost Marinette, either. If there was a happy medium, he was going to find it. If he wanted to win her over, it was going to be as Adrien, not Chat Noir.

Adrien’s phone buzzed, and he absent-mindedly pulled it out to look at it. 

Only to almost drop it when he saw who was calling.

He frantically answered it, clearing his throat and trying (and probably failing) to sound nonchalant. “Hey.” He ignored Plagg’s amused snickers. He’d already gotten an earful from him about trying to dodge Ladybug’s “do you have a crush on Marinette?” question. 

_“Adrien! You speak Mandarin, right? Mandarin Chinese? Please tell me I’m not making that up.”_

Adrien blinked, sitting up straighter in his desk chair. Marinette sounded borderline frantic. “Yeah, I speak Chinese. Is everything okay, Marinette?”

_“No! This is a total disaster! My mom’s uncle’s here for the World’s Greatest Chef contest and I have no idea what to do with him. How am I supposed to talk to him? I don’t think I can pull this off, you’ve gotta help me.”_

Adrien smiled to himself. He never knew she could freak out like this.“Don’t worry, Marinette. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

_“Really? Oh my god, thank you!”_

“Of course, pr- Marinette.”

True to his word, Adrien found himself ringing Marinette’s doorbell ten minutes later, hoping he didn’t look as excited and nervous as he felt. It was a rare stroke of good luck that right when he’d decided not to pursue Marinette as Chat Noir anymore, the chance to see Marinette as Adrien fell right into his lap.

The door swung open. “Oh my god, you actually came.”

“Did you think I wouldn’t?” Adrien gave her an exaggerated bow. “Translator, at your service.”

Marinette gave him a relieved smile. “Thanks, Sunshine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one’s short, but I was busy this week and better a short well-edited chapter than a long crappy one, I say. I swear I’m not postponing the inevitable on purpose. :X 
> 
> Next chapter: This AU’s version of the Kung Food episode, and Marinette and Adrien finally have that talk. Or at least part of it.
> 
> Comment and let me know what you think!
> 
> Edit: Yes, there is now a chapter total! I'm estimating 25 chapters, which means 8 more, but that could change if things end up being longer than I thought they would.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For context, in Frighteningale Marinette isn’t even really tempted to be Ladybug, so she refuses in order to protect her identity and because Adrien is playing Chat Noir, but changes her mind later because refuses to let Chloé play Ladybug. So basically the same.

Marinette was ready to be done.

The last few weeks had been a whirlwind of emotion for her. She’d gotten expelled from school, and before she’d even had time to process it she was being attacked by a supervillain, saved by Chat Noir, had to juggle being Ladybug _and_ Multimouse without revealing her identity, all while stressing out about that goddamn baby shower. 

Then she’d had a standoff with Lila, gotten reinstated to school, and Adrien surprised her with his kindness and support right before pissing her off again. Then Chat Noir had visited her, which was the best night _ever_ , then Adrien was trying to be friends and they were trying to wade through the most awkward friendship of her entire life, and to put the cherry on top, Marinette was _still_ replaying her conversation with Chat Noir yesterday, trying to decide if Chat had a crush on her or not. Sometimes she hated being an overthinker. 

And now it turned out that she had just called Adrien, with whom her friendship was still shaky, for help translating for her uncle when it turned out that Cheng Shifu could speak French all along.

Talk about embarrassing.

Marinette watched from the sidelines, behind the view of the cameras, as Adrien translated the reporter’s questions for her uncle. Okay, maybe calling him hadn’t been for nothing. She was glad Cheng Shifu had someone to talk to and was being taken care of.

She waited until the camera people had wandered off before approaching Adrien to apologize, who stood by the stairs, watching her great-uncle head to the kitchen.

But someone else beat her there.

* * *

Adrien saw Marinette heading over and was about to move towards her when a familiar voice came from behind him.

“Adrikins!”

Adrien braced himself as Chloé ran up to him and threw her arms around him. He could see Marinette rolling her eyes over Chloé’s head. He made a face at her.

“I didn’t know you were coming!” Chloé chattered at top speed. “Come over here, you can sit with me in the-”

“Sorry Chlo,” Adrien said, taking hold of her arms and loosening her grip so he could breathe. “I’m here to translate for Cheng Shifu. I can’t.”

Marinette looked surprised, but smiled and gave a nod of approval.

Chloé followed his gaze. “Oh, look. It’s my _favorite_ person, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” She scoffed and put her hands on her hips. “Are you here to watch your uncle lose the contest because he’s making soup?”

Adrien shook his head at her, but Chloé ignored him. “I mean, it’s not even a main dish. _Puh-lease._ Doesn’t he know how to make sushi, like everyone else?”

What was it with her and sushi? She practically ate it for every meal. “Japanese people make sushi, Chloé. Cheng Shifu is Chinese.” Adrien corrected.

“Besides,” Marinette added, coming to stand next to Adrien. “He’s not like everyone else. My uncle is the best chef in the world. His soup is legendary!”

Chloé flipped her hair. “Well, I despise soup.”

“So what?”

“Didn’t you know, I’m on the jury. Your uncle will not be getting my vote for sure.”

One look at Marinette’s face, and Adrien thought he’d better intervene before disaster. As much as he wanted to see Marinette destroy Chloé, he also didn’t want Marinette to anger a person with no morals during a televised event.

“Oh yeah?” Marinette said, starting forward. “Well-”

“That’s right,” Adrien said loudly, putting his hand on Marinette’s shoulder to stop her from moving forward. “I forgot, you don’t like soup. That’s too bad, I hear celestial soup is really good. Come on, Marinette, we should go see if your uncle needs anything.”

“Whatever you could do to help him isn’t going to be enough to get him my vote.” Chloé scoffed.

Marinette stomped up to Chloé before Adrien could stop her and got right up in her face. Oh, well. Might as well enjoy the show. 

“Well, news flash, Chloé. You are _one_ vote, and my uncle doesn’t need yours to win. There are other judges with much better taste than yours. Wait, what am I saying? You don’t have any taste.” Marinette looked Chloé up and down. “Just look at what you’re wearing.”

Adrien just stood there, trapped between suppressed amusement and utter terror. Marinette and Chloé were both forces to be reckoned with. This felt like playing with fire.

Chloé stepped back. “Hey! You don’t talk about me like that!” She stormed off past Adrien, then turned back. “You’ve made a big mistake,” she said before marching up the stairs.

Adrien watched her go, arms crossed, before turning back to Marinette. “You really stood up for Cheng Shifu,” he tried.

“Why’d you try to stop me?” Marinette asked. She didn’t say it accusingly, but Adrien winced all the same.

“Because it’s never a good idea to get Chloé angry and embarrassed. You heard her! She said that we made a big mistake.”

“Yeah, but what’s she gonna do? Not vote for my uncle’s soup?”

Adrien paused. What _was_ Chloé going to do? “I don’t know, but it’s not going to be good. I think we need to take her seriously.” When Marinette looked at him skeptically, he added. “I know Chloé, and so do you. She’s totally going to try to pull something.”

Marinette sighed in defeat. “Maybe we should go hang out in the kitchen with Cheng Shifu.”

Adrien agreed and led the way so he could hold open the door for her. She barely seemed to notice, like she was lost in thought. 

They were silent the rest of the way to the kitchen, until they greeted Cheng Shifu and leaned against the wall to watch him chop vegetables. After twenty long, uneventful minutes, Marinette went to drag some bins over so they could sit. Adrien hurried to help her.

“Don’t you think Chloé would have done something by now?” Marinette whispered.

“I don’t know.” Adrien admitted. “I don’t usually stake her out like this.”

Marinette frowned. “Maybe we’re overreacting.”

“We’re just taking proper precautions. Overreacting was what you did when you yelled at Chloé.”

“I was not overreacting.” Marinette said defensively.

“You insulted her fashion taste.”

“She deserved it!”

“I’m not saying she didn’t. All I’m saying is that we wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t made Chloé so angry.”

“We don’t even know she’s going to do anything.” Marinette argued.

“Marinette, she _always_ does something. Remember the class picture we took, and Chloé wanted to be next to me, so she locked Juleka in the bathroom? And when Clara Nightingale chose you to be Ladybug instead of Chloé, she had the entire music video cancelled. And when people made fun of that documentary she made, she tried to get the entire school shut down.”

Marinette crossed her arms. “If you knew all this, why didn’t you stop her?”

“You are vastly overestimating my skills if you think I could stop Chloé.”

“That’s not a good enough reason.” Marinette told him. “How about the gum?”

“What about it?”

“You could have told me it was Chloé that put the gum on your seat.”

“I-” Adrien stopped. “I didn’t,” he said slowly.

“I know,” Marinette said. “Nino told me. I would have believed you from the first day if you’d just said it was Chloé who put the gum on my seat. Why didn’t you?”

Marinette didn’t look accusing, she just looked… curious, but under her intense gaze Adrien had trouble coming up with a good answer, so he just told her what he’d told Nino, all those months ago. “She was my only friend, back then. I couldn’t just throw her under the bus.”

Marinette raised an eyebrow at him. “You mean the way she threw you under the bus? You could have gotten in trouble for damaging school property.”

Adrien didn’t have an answer to that.

Marinette sighed. “You deserve better friends than that, Adrien. You don’t need to cover for her when she wouldn’t do the same for you.”

“Hey, she’s not all bad,” Adrien argued. “I really think she’s capable of being a better person, if we give her a nudge in the right direction.” 

“By letting her get away with her bad behavior? That’s not nudging her in the right direction.”

“Well, she gets defensive if you corner her! She doesn’t listen to anyone.”

“That’s not true. _You_ got her to be nice for like, a day that one time. When you actually bother to try, she listens to you.”

“Not as much as she should,” Adrien muttered, trying not to let her words sting.

“Actually, why aren’t you talking to her right now?”

“Umm…” because I have the biggest crush on you ever _and Chloé knows that so me talking to her will just make her more determined to bring your uncle down._

Luckily, Marinette didn’t seem to really expect an answer to that question. “My point is, we shouldn’t have to cater to Chloé’s every need just so she doesn’t lash out. That’s how she got so spoiled in the first place. Why should _we_ do the work to be treated kindly?”

Adrien didn’t say anything. She had a point.

“And even if we did,” Marinette continued. “Not antagonizing Chloé doesn’t necessarily stop her from trying to ruin our lives. She’s gotten half our class akumatized. Wait-” Marinette counted on her fingers quickly. “-No, literally almost every single person in our class has gotten upset enough to be an akuma victim because of Chloé. And remember that time she called the fire department and got the entire school in trouble just because she was bored? And she-”

“Okay!” Adrien interrupted. “Okay, I get it. You have a point. But- no, Marinette, listen to me-”

But Marinette didn’t listen. She clamped a hand over his mouth and dragged him to his feet with surprising strength, shoving him backwards into the pantry and letting the doors swing shut behind them. Putting a finger to her lips, she pointed out the circular windows, and Adrien suddenly understood what was going on.

Chloé had arrived.

* * *

Marinette felt bad about interrupting Adrien, right in the middle of an important conversation, but she didn’t want Chloé to see them. 

“Mr. Cheng?” Chloé was saying. “Marinette’s looking for you outside.”

Well, that obviously wasn’t true. Releasing Adrien, who looked a little flustered, she pulled out her phone and started to record through the window, feeling a little bit like Alya.

“But…” Cheng Shifu looked toward the corner Marinette and Adrien had been in moments before, then seemed confused that they weren’t there anymore. 

As soon as he left the room, Chloé shut the doors and ran over to where the Celestial soup was bubbling on the stove. Marinette made sure to tilt the camera so it was picking up Chloé throwing various random ingredients into the pot, hoping that the microphone picked up Chloé’s mutter of “let’s see if the other judges enjoy your uncle’s soup after this, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

Marinette shook her head. Unfortunately, they had been right about Chloé. Marinette had hoped, but…

She kept recording as her uncle reentered the kitchen and Chloé strode casually out of the room. “Marinette wasn’t there,” Cheng Shifu told her.

“No speak Japanese,” Chloé said flippantly. “See ya.”

Marinette scowled and Adrien squeezed her elbow reassuringly, though one glance at his face told her he was just as upset as she was.

Stopping the recording, Marinette burst through the doors of the pantry, accidentally startling Cheng Shifu. “Uncle Cheng!” she said. “That girl- Chloé - she did something to your soup! You can’t use that for the contest!”

Uncle Cheng looked bewildered, either at her rapid-fire French or the fact that she had just come out of the pantry waving her phone, Marinette wasn’t sure. Adrien came up from behind her and said something in Chinese. Her uncle said something back, then took the lid off of his pot and tasted it-

-only to immediately spit it out. “This isn’t right! I never put these ingredients in,” he said in French.

That was all Marinette needed before she ran out the kitchen door, Adrien hot on her heels.

“Marinette, wait!” he said. “Are you going to show that video to the mayor?”

“Of course I am,” she said, pausing before she reached the dining room door. “He needs to know that his daughter sabotaged my uncle’s soup.”

“But… we took care of it.” Adrien nervously reached up to rub the back of his neck. “Cheng Shifu knows he needs to make another batch of soup.”

Marinette wanted to scoff and run off anyway, but she sighed and turned to face Adrien fully. “Look, Adrien,” she paused, trying to decide how to put it. “I get it. Chloé’s your friend, and I know you still see some good in her. But not turning her in isn’t going to bring out the good in her. It just won’t.”

“I’ve known Chloé since we were kids. I really think that if we just give her a chance, she’ll start trying harder.”

Marinette sighed. “Maybe you’re right. I don’t know. What I _do_ know is that this isn’t our job. It’s the adult’s job to take care of bullies and sabotage and Chloé’s behavior. It’s not on us to try to make Chloé a better person. It’s on the adults who should have been giving Chloé consequences from the start, or maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess!” Marinette took a deep breath. “Anything else?”

Adrien gave her a wry smile. “I doubt I could stop you, and you don’t need my permission, but… you should show Jagged Stone the video at the same time you show the mayor. Jagged Stone likes you, and the mayor will have to listen if he’s on your side.” smiling a little at her surprised expression, he took a few steps forward and swung open the door, gesturing through it with his free hand. “After you.”

Adrien turned out to be right. It was easy to get Jagged Stone’s attention (“Marinette! I didn’t know you were here!) and show the video to him (“The mayor’s daughter did that? That is so not rock and roll. Andre! Come look at this!”). Marinette’s phone quickly got passed around, and soon, everyone had seen the video. 

Alec went to tell the camera crew that there was a delay in the tasting, and Mayor Bourgeois went to apologize to Cheng Shufu personally. Marinette and Adrien followed, in case there were any translation needs. 

As soon as the mayor left, Marinette approached her uncle. “Could you teach me how to make Celestial soup, Cheng Shifu?” she asked.

He smiled at her. “With pleasure, Marinette.”

Marinette did her best to remember all the things Cheng Shifu was doing as he showed her what ingredients to add and how long it should simmer. They were just finishing up when Chloé decided to make yet another appearance.

“Seriously? Still making soup? I told you I hate soup! You think the jury is going to approve of this?”

Marinette turned towards Chloé, but Adrien was already taking care of it. “Didn’t your father kick you off the jury?” he said, crossing his arms.

“No, he didn’t!” Chloé protested. “I-I… I resigned.” She stuck her nose in the air.

“I think Cheng Shifu and Marinette have got this covered. Why don’t we let the real jury decide?”

“Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.” Chloé huffed, flouncing off. Marinette watched, impressed.

“Thanks, Adrien,” she told him as they watched Chloé leave. She looked down at the floor. “You know… If I hadn’t riled up Chloé, none of this would have happened.”

Adrien came over and put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s not your fault, Marinette. It’s Chloé’s. She really shouldn’t have done that, no matter what happened to her. It’s super immature.”

Marinette looked up at him. “No offense, but, um, why are you friends with her?”

Adrien sighed and took his hand off her shoulder to rub the back of his neck. “Back when I wasn’t allowed out of the house, Chloé was really the only person my age that was at all of the events I had to go to for my father. So we became and stayed pretty close friends. She wasn’t always like this, you know. She used to be really fun to hang out with. But then her mom started to spend more time in New York, and kind of forgot Chloé existed.”

Marinette winced. She’d met Audrey Bourgeois a couple of times, and was not impressed with her personality, no matter how brilliant of a designer she was. She could understand Chloé’s struggle, a little bit.

“But Chloé is capable of being nice, I promise.” Adrien said. “It just takes a bit of encouragement.”

He really looked like he wanted her to believe him.

Marinette sighed. “Do you see where I’m coming from, though?” she asked him. “Covering for her is encouraging bad behavior, not good. And encouraging her to be a better person is useless if you’re not giving her a direction to go.”

“I see that now,” Adrien agreed. “And I’m sorry. I should have been correcting Chloé sooner. A lot sooner. But I’m not giving up on her. She’s a lot of things, but for a long time she was my only friend. She’s been there for me for everything. I can’t just turn my back on her, not when there’s a chance she can do better.”

Marinette didn’t say anything for a second. That was… wow, that actually made a lot of sense. She didn’t really understand how he saw good in Chloé, but… they had been friends for a long time. She was willing to take his word for it. 

Adrien looked like he was still waiting for a response, so she lightly punched him in the shoulder and said. “Good thing you’re such a sunshine child, then. One of us has to be.”

Adrien looked at her suspiciously. “Are you saying that in a good way, this time?”

“Yep.”

Adrien lit up, and Marinette bit back a giggle before they went outside to watch the contest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really love Chloé’s character development in the show. Miracle Queen made me sad but I still think she can and will be a better person in later seasons. Unfortunately, it is important to this fic that she still be a brat, so we’re going to pretend Chloé is more like season 1 Chloé for now. 
> 
> I will not be posting on Thursday, but I’ll be back again on Monday with the next update. Everyone have a wonderful holiday season, make good choices, be kind to everyone, and stay safe! 
> 
> Comment and let me know what you think!


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s a fun little Adrinette scene I wrote that I love but didn’t really forward the plot much, so I’m putting it in a new fic called ‘Not a Chance Outtakes’. Go check it out! I’m very proud of it, and it is more than likely I will add more chapters to it.

“Hey, little sis!” Nora knocked on Alya’s bedroom door briefly before poking her head in, already dressed in her boxing clothes. “I found your charger.”

Alya was up from her desk immediately, taking it from her sister and giving her a hug. “Thanks, Nora. Are you leaving?”

“Yep. Boxing match. I’m gonna pulverize them, Anansi-style!” Nora headed toward the door. “Dad’s at work and Mom’s judging that contest, so you’re in charge of Ella and Etta this afternoon.”

“This afternoon?” Alya asked. She sighed. “I was going out with Nino this afternoon.”

“Sorry, not my problem. You can leave them with a friend or something.” Nora waved and headed out the door.

After Nora left, Alya switched on her phone and went to plug it in, sure she’d find a panicked text from Marinette. She couldn’t believe she’d forgotten about the contest. Alya hated having her phone off - she liked people being able to reach her whenever - but she’d lost her charger and turned her phone off so that if there was an akuma attack, she’d have enough battery to record it.

Oh, the things she did for the Ladyblog.

Sure enough, when Alya checked her messages, she found one missed call from Marinette and more than a few texts.

_(3hr) Missed call from Marinette._

8:03  
**Marinette:** Alya where are you I need helpppp

8:05  
**Marinette:** nvm I just called Adrien he’s on his way  
**Marinette:** Is everything okay u never have ur phone off

8:16  
**Marinette:** He’s here. i have no idea what they’re saying rn  
**Marinette:** This is so awkward

8:39  
**Marinette:** omg he speaks french  
**Marinette:** I’m never gonna live this down thats so embarrassing I didn’t realize

8:57  
**Marinette:** Ok your moms here judging so im pretty sure ur not dead  
**Marinette:** Yep i just asked  
**Marinette:** Apparently you lost your charger?  
**Marinette:** If you come over later u can borrow mine  
**Marinette:** Except duh you’re not gonna see this unless you find it lol

10:30  
**Marinette:** ALYA YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED  
**Marinette:** Chloé JUST TRIED TO SABOTAGE MY UNCLES SOUP  
**Marinette:** Thank goodness for adrien  
**Marinette:** But don’t tell him i said that he’d just get a big head  
**Marinette:** I recorded it on my phone and she got kicked off the jury  
**Marinette:** I think i'm channeling your spirit  
**Marinette:** Boo yah, Marinette style  
**Marinette:** Text me later

11:18  
**Alya:** my phone buzzed for like a minute non stop  
**Alya:** And boo Chloé. I’d say I can’t believe it but I totally can.  
**Marinette:** finally!  
**Marinette:** And it’s payback for all the times you spam me when I’m not answering.

Alya rolled her eyes. So this is what it felt like to drop off the face of the earth for a few hours like Marinette consistently did.

**Alya:** because you always forget to leave your phone on!  
**Alya:** I’m glad you had Adrien to help you, ngl that’s exactly what I would have done if you’d called me first.

Distantly she heard the doorbell ring and her sisters’ pounding feet, racing to be the first to get it. “Nino!” they said in unison, slamming open the door.

“Hey there, little dudettes!”

**Alya:** Nino’s here i’ll call u later  
**Alya:** And you’d better tell me EVERYTHING  
**Marinette:** K  
**Marinette:** Have fun

Half an hour later, Alya and Nino were on the couch, playing Freestyle Clash when the twins came tearing out of their room like a couple of wild animals. 

“Yay! It’s Freestyle Clash!” they cheered in unison, running to stand in front of the TV. “Can we play?”

Alya paused the game. “No, you can’t play this game, remember? What if we played-”

“But Lila lets us play!”

Alya blinked and exchanged a glance with Nino. “What?”

“We want to play!”

“Lila lets you play _this_ game?” Alya checked.

“Yes!” her sisters chorused. “She has the high score!”

Nino made the game go to the scoreboard. “Um, no she doesn’t.”

Ella and Etta giggled. “That’s because she didn’t save any of the games, silly.” Ella explained.

“Why not?” Alya asked, watching Nino scroll through the stats. Nothing but Alya, Nino, and at the very bottom, Marinette.

“She said the inventor can never save their games.” Etta told her.

“The _inventor_?”

The twins laughed and started running around the living room. “Yes! She invented Freestyle Clash!”

“She told you that?” Alya shook her head, trying to understand. 

The twins jumped up on the couch then tumbled back off. “No. She told Chris!”

“She told my brother she invented Freestyle Clash?” Nino shook his head. “No wonder the little dude’s half in love with her.”

“Ok, hang on,” Alya said, still stuck on the ‘Lila let them play an adult video game’ thing. “We remembered to tell Lila we didn’t want them playing the more mature games, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, we did.” Nino said. “It’s possible she just forgot?”

“It’s still irresponsible of her to let them play it, even if we hadn’t specifically asked her not to.” Alya pointed out, flopping back into the couch, ignoring the twins, who were tearing around the room and seemed to have forgotten all about the video game.

“I’m more concerned that she told Chris that she invented the game.”

“She could have been joking,” Alya suggested. “I tell little kids that I’m a unicorn all the time.”

“Wait, you’re not?” Nino asked.

They both laughed, but Nino quickly sobered up, setting the controller down on the table so he could scoot closer and wrap his arm around Alya. “This is different,” he said. “They’re impressionable little kids. Playing around is one thing. It’s not going to be a shock when they realize you’re not a unicorn. But telling them she invented the game? What else has she told them?”

Ella and Etta ran around them, yelling, “She’s best friends with Ladybug! And she knows Jagged Stone!”

Alya nodded absentmindedly, mind going back to her conversation with Lila that one day, trying to figure out what about it had bothered her.

Lila had obviously been upset over something, though Alya hadn’t been able to figure out what was wrong, which was unusual. Alya prided herself on being able to read people. Even Lila. So why hadn’t she been able to read Lila, all of a sudden?

It wasn’t normal for Lila to be so cagey. Usually she was pretty open with what was bothering her. Like if her wrist or tinnitus was acting up, or if she was worried about homework or her mom’s ambassador events.

Lila had gotten so defensive, so fast, even though Alya wasn’t trying to accuse her of anything.

She’d been so quick to jump on Marinette, only to back off even faster when Alya defended her. Which didn’t make sense, because Lila was usually really nice to Marinette, even when Marinette was barely civil to her. Alya would think that after the whole ‘getting Marinette expelled’ misunderstanding, Lila would be trying even harder to be nice to Marinette. Wouldn’t she feel guilty? Instead, she was acting as if the whole thing hadn’t just been a misunderstanding.

It was almost as if Lila had been trying different things to weasel her way out of Alya’ request, seeing which one Alya would respond to, before finally giving up and agreeing as a matter of principle. 

And then the biggest red flag of them all: Lila had barely spoken to Alya since, even though it had been almost two weeks.

“If Lila just forgot that the kids weren’t supposed to play Freestyle Clash,” Alya said slowly, “why didn’t she let the game save? Why bother to go to the trouble of deleting their scores?”

Nino didn’t have an answer. 

* * *

Adrien laughed as he watched Marinette spin around the hotel lobby with excitement, but she was too happy to care. “He won!”

“Yep.” Adrien said cheerfully, leaning against the front counter with his hands in his pockets.

“The World’s Greatest Chef is my very own great-uncle, Cheng Shifu!”

“I totally called it.”

“Yeah, you did.” Marinette pumped her fist. “Uncle Cheng and his famous Celestial soup for the win!”

Adrien just chucked. “I think you mean Marinette soup, now.”

Marinette stopped her happy dance. “Yeah, but Celestial soup sounds cooler.”

“I like Marinette soup.”

“Marinette soup sounds like I’m going to be eaten for dinner.”

Adrien held out his arms and staggered toward her like a zombie. “Mm, Marinette soup!”

Marinette held out her arms to block him and backed away, laughing gleefully. It had been a great turn to a pretty crappy day. No matter what jokes she made, she was incredibly honored to have her great-uncle, the newly pronounced World’s Greatest Chef’s famous dish named after _her_ … well, she was elated beyond words. Right now, standing in the hotel lobby, waiting for her uncle with Adrien, it felt like nothing could go wrong.

No, it felt better than that. It felt like things almost _had_ gone wrong, but they hadn’t. Even better was the fact that she and Adrien had finally had the conversation she’d been dreading, and it had gone a million times better than she had expected. Now her uncle had won the contest, Chloé had been knocked down a peg or two, and most of the air had been cleared between her and Adrien. It was an amazing feeling.

“We should celebrate,” she said, on a whim. “Uncle Cheng’s flying back to China tonight, so we’re going to spend some time as a family, but maybe later this week you can come over.”

For a brief moment she worried she’d overstepped, but Adrien grinned. “That sounds awesome. What are we celebrating?”

“The win of the World’s Greatest Chef, of course.” Marinette came forward again, leaning her elbows against the front counter.

Adrien turned slightly to face her and raised a skeptical eyebrow. “With Cheng Shifu in China?”

“Well then, your Chinese prowess,” Marinette suggested. 

“Your excellent filming skills,” Adrien countered. 

“The defeat of Chloé Bourgeois.”

“A milestone in our friendship?” He said it like a question.

“Exactly,” Marinette agreed. “So? I remember you said you like video games. You in?”

Adrien smiled, and Marinette was struck by how happy he looked, and how flushed his cheeks were. It seemed that he, too, was swept up in the success of the day. “Absolutely, I’m in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We don’t really get confirmation of this in the show, but I figure the class doesn’t know about Lila’s lying disease, because that seems like the kind of thing that would be kept secret for a student’s privacy. Idk though.
> 
> Comment and let me know what you think!


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year!! Everyone have fun, stay safe, and hope for a better year ahead.
> 
> This chapter takes place several weeks after the World’s Greatest Chef contest, so don’t be confused by Adrien and Marinette’s sudden familiarity.

“How are you so good at this?”

Marinette grinned, leaning forward to grab a pastry from the tray in front of them. “Oh, so now you admit I’m better than you are?”

Adrien gestured at the screen in front of them, which was prominently displaying “Marinette wins” for the third time that day. “Well, I don’t know how long I can insist that you just keep getting lucky.”

Marinette just smiled, thinking about the lucky charm she’d made years ago that she still grabbed from her room whenever she played Ultimate Mecha Strike.

“Hey,” she said, nudging him as he slumped back in his seat. “Want to hear a secret?”

“What kind of secret?”

“This secret,” Marinette said, holding up her lucky charm. “This is why I win.”

Adrien eyed the homemade trinket skeptically. “Are you messing with me?”

“Why don’t you try playing a match with it?” Marinette offered. She held it out to him, secretly hoping he would take it. The truth was, they’d gotten so much closer in the past few weeks since the World’s Greatest Chef competition, closer than she’d have thought possible if you’d told her a few months ago that she was going to be friends with Adrien Agreste, of all people. They were way beyond peace offerings, but… she wanted him to have it. From what she’d seen, he didn’t have a lot of things that really meant something to him. For someone who lived in such a big house, with a huge, decked out room, he enjoyed spending time away from it a little too much, and personal items from someone he cared about were scarce. Maybe she could fix that.

Adrien reached out to take it. “Thanks, Marinette,” he said, examining it with a smile on his face. Marinette watched as he fingered the beads almost reverently. After a moment he looked back up at her and said, “Should we try it out?”

They picked up their joypads for another round, but they had hardly started playing when the trapdoor opened and Alya came up, closely followed by her sisters, Nino’s brother, and Nino himself, all holding backpacks. 

“Hey, Marinette!” Alya greeted before stopping short and raising an eyebrow. “Oh. I didn’t realize Adrien was here.” She shot Marinette a suggestive look. Marinette frowned at her and shook her head slightly.

“What are you all doing here?” she asked, pausing the game.

“Girl, we asked you to watch the kids for us. Did you forget?”

_Whoops._ “No, no, of course I didn’t forget,” Marinette said dismissively. “But, um, that was today?” Marinette grabbed her phone and checked the date, trying to be subtle, but she could feel all three of her friends silently laughing at her.

“Yes, that was today.”

“Oh,” Marinette said, mentally smacking herself. How did she always forget these things? “Okay. Come on in.”

The twins needed no more urging to race up to Marinette, chattering away excitedly about something they’d done at school, but Chris stayed by Nino, crossing his arms stubbornly.

Nino crouched down. “Go on, little dude. We’ll be back soon.”

“I don’t want to stay with Marinette!”

Ella and Etta fell silent and turned to watch Chris.

“But I thought you liked Marinette,” Nino said, visibly confused.

“Yeah, come on Chris,” Marinette stood up and walked over to him, holding out a hand. “We’re buddies, aren’t we?”

“I’m not a baby!”

Nino and Marinette exchanged looks that were half exasperated, half bewildered. 

“She said ‘buddy’, Chris,” Nino said gently. “Not ‘baby’”.

“Marinette only babysits babies!”

Marinette frowned. He never had a problem with being left with her before, despite his fixation on not being a ‘baby’. But to be fair, she hadn’t watched Alya and Nino’s siblings in a while. Kids changed fast.

Alya leaned in and whispered, “Chris got kind of attached to his last babysitter. Sorry.”

“Who?” Marinette asked, watching as Nino tried to reason with his brother.

“Just a friend of ours. We’re pretty sure Chris has a crush on her. Anyway, sorry if he’s difficult, but we really need to get going.”

Marinette wasn’t sure if she’d be a help or a hindrance trying to coax Chris further into the room, so she turned her attention back to the twins, who were still over by Adrien.

He was still sitting in the desk chair, but he was listening closely as the twins told him all about their day. As Marinette watched, he carefully slid away some of the sewing stuff on her desk and switched off her monitor.

Marinette smiled at him gratefully and hurried to child-proof her room, hastily shoving scissors and needles and seam rippers and other sharp odds and ends she really should have put away earlier into a drawer and slamming it closed. Once that was done, she grabbed the little plush dolls and sat down on the floor with them. The twins gasped with joy and snatched up Lady Wifi and Evillustrator to do battle.

Adrien moved down to sit on the floor with her as Nino said placatingly, “Chris, we’ll be back soon-”

“Come play with us, Chris!” Marinette said, holding the Rogercop doll up towards him.

Next to her, Adrien picked up the Chat Noir doll and deepened his voice to say, “Oh no! Lady Wifi _and_ the Evillustrator? How will Ladybug and I ever defeat both of them?”

For a second Chris looked like he was going to go over, and the teenagers exchanged hopeful glances, but then he turned away stubbornly. “That game’s for babies! I’m not a baby! I don’t want to play with you!”

Nino and Alya exchanged exasperated looks, and Marinette wondered why they didn’t just leave and let her deal with grumpy Chris. Kids didn’t want to leave their parents all the time. _Must have been some crush._

“Marinette doesn’t only play with babies,” Adrien said.

They all turned to look at him as he continued, holding the Chat Noir doll loosely in one hand. “I love playing with Marinette. Marinette’s house is the cool place to hang out.”

Chris considered him for a moment, then walked over to where Adrien was kneeling on the ground. Marinette watched, but was distracted when she heard Nino and Alya whispering to each other. Walking over to them, she only caught a few snatches of “...did she tell him that Marinette only…?” and “...worse than we thought?” before they caught her watching and clammed up.

Marinette was about to ask what that was all about when Alya nudged her and said, “So, Adrien, huh?”

“It’s not like that!” Marinette protested, face reddening even though there was absolutely no reason for that. “He’s just a friend.”

Alya raised an eyebrow at her. “Uh-huh. Sure.” She gestured towards the kids, where Adrien had somehow gotten Chris to sit down and take the Rogercop doll. 

When Adrien saw her watching he held up Chat Noir and launched into a monologue about how he couldn’t defeat the baddies without Ladybug, prompting Ella and Etta to chant, “Marinette! Be Ladybug! Be Ladybug!”

Alya nudged her. “Don’t think I don’t see that look you’re giving him, girl.”

Marinette quickly erased the fond smile off of her face and gave Alya a meaningful glance, unwilling to say it in front of Nino but silently willing Alya to remember her crush on Chat Noir - not that Alya had ever known enough about it to take it seriously.

“I’m just saying. Think about it.” Alya raised her voice. “Bye, guys. Thanks again. We’ll be back later.” She and Nino waved as they left, leaving Marinette standing there in slight bewilderment.

The twins started up their chanting again. “Be Ladybug! Be Ladybug! Be Ladybug!”

Marinette went over and picked up the Ladybug doll. Adrien as Chat Noir cheered, “Never fear, milady is here!” and it was so, dorky, so _Chat_ , that Marinette couldn’t help but laugh as she sat down next to him.

Marinette tried to pay attention to the game, she really did, but it was a lot more interesting to watch Adrien. He got really into his portrayal as Chat Noir, and he played really well with the kids. The twins loved him, and Chris didn’t leave his side, even when they put away the dolls and went downstairs for a snack.

Adrien kind of reminded her of Chat Noir when he was interacting with kids. They loved him, too. He was always the best and calming down kids after they’d been akumatized. Marinette shook her head a little. That was a strange thought to have, especially when Adrien had just spent half an hour pretending to be him.

“You really don’t need to stay,” Marinette called to Adrien while she was putting things away in the kitchen. 

Adrien left his stool next to his new buddy Chris and came to lean against the cabinets next to her. “You’ve said that three times already.”

“Because I’m serious! You don’t have to help me babysit when you could go home and-”

“You sound like you’re trying really hard to get rid of me.” Adrien shifted so he was facing her, one arm resting on the counter.

Marinette crossed her arms. “I just don’t want you to feel stuck here when you could be doing something else.”

“Marinette, I’m _staying_. I like hanging out with these guys.”

“They like you a lot, too.” Marinette conceded. “How did you win over Chris?”

Adrien shrugged. “I guess I’m just good with kids. Who knew, right?”

That was an understatement. Marinette narrowed her eyes at him playfully. “Are you trying to take my job?”

Adrien held his hands up innocently. “Of course not!”

Marinette laughed. “Well, thank you. They’re on their best behavior, thanks to you.”

She watched Adrien’s profile as he turned his head to look at the kids, eating their food and chattering.

She’d meant what she told Alya. Adrien was just a friend. She knew that.

But when had they gone from “not friends” to “barely friends” to insisting that they were “just friends”?

* * *

Adrien didn’t have a lot of experience with kids, but it looked like the one good thing about being in charge of more than one was that often they were content with entertaining each other. Marinette had told him repeatedly that he didn’t have to stay and help her babysit, but Adrien didn’t mind. He liked hanging out with Marinette no matter what they were doing. After several rousing games with Marinette’s dolls (Adrien liked that Marinette had made a Chat Noir doll a little too much), and a snack, Ella, Etta, and Chris pulled out some of the toys they had brought and were now getting comfortable on the living room floor, playing an invented game. 

The only problem was that Chris still didn’t seem to really want to play with Marinette, preferring instead to sit by Adrien. 

“I don’t understand,” Marinette whispered to Adrien as they both settled on the couch to keep an eye on the kids. “Chris and I normally get along really well.” She chewed on her bottom lip thoughtfully. “I haven’t babysat Alya and Nino’s siblings in a while. Chris must have some crush on his other babysitter.”

Adrien wrinkled his nose. “I can’t say he has great taste.”

Marinette nudged him. “Hey, lots of kids have crushes on their babysitters. It’s okay.”

Adrien gave her a look. “Yeah, but Lila?”

Marinette made a funny noise in the back of her throat. “ _Lila?_ ” she repeated.

“I know, right?”

“No, I mean, why are they leaving their siblings with that… that…” 

“Yeah, she’s a bitch.” 

Marinette looked at him as if surprised at his language. “Wow, Sunshine,” she said, looking… a little impressed? “I mean, you’re totally right.”

Adrien didn’t blame her for being surprised. There was a reason she called him Sunshine, after all. He made a point of being nice to everyone, to their face and otherwise. 

After Revealer, though, Adrien was willing to make an exception for Lila.

Speaking of which, there was something that he should have told Marinette a long time ago. He’d have to be careful, though. Adrien shouldn’t have any idea that Lila had threatened Marinette (a fact that still made his blood boil), and he definitely didn’t want Marinette to find out that Lila had been targeting her because of _him_. 

The thought made his stomach roll over. “I’m sorry, Marinette,” he blurted.

Marinette looked startled. “For what?”

“For what I said about Lila. If I had backed you up, then maybe you wouldn’t have gotten expelled.”

“But you did back me up. You said that there was no way I’d stolen Lila’s-”

“I mean before that. Back when-” he looked down at the lucky charm he was fiddling with in his lap. “-back when I thought that Lila was just looking for attention and that it wasn’t hurting anyone. We both knew she was lying, but you were the only one who saw what she was really doing. I should have listened to you. I’m really sorry.” He kept his gaze on his lap and held his breath.

Marinette turned towards him and put his hands over his, stilling their nervous fidgeting. “I forgive you.” she said. “Honestly, Adrien, I really like that about you.”

Adrien’s head snapped up. “What?”

“That you always see the best in people. Even when they’re at their worst. I wish I was more like that.”

Adrien didn’t smile. “And I wish I was better at not letting people walk all over me, like you. Maybe if I was, she wouldn’t have gotten you expelled and-” Adrien hesitated briefly. “-Whatever else she’s done that I don’t know about.” he finished lamely.

Marinette scooted a little so she was facing him more. “Adrien,” she said firmly. “Whatever Lila has done is not your fault. For whatever reason she decided to target me, and that has nothing to do with you.”

Adrien winced, even as he felt his heart swell in his chest. How she could be so kind and forgiving, he didn’t know.

“You know, I think Lila’s getting desperate.” Marinette said. “I mean, people are still believing her, but she hasn’t gotten close to you at school, in, what? A month?”

“The Sunshine Child Protection Squad is doing its job. Thanks for that, by the way.”

“I try. And if this-” Marinette indicated the kids playing on the rug with a wide sweep of her arms. “-is any indication, Alya and Nino are starting to doubt her, too.”

“That’s true.” Adrien said. “So what are we going to do about it?”

Marinette raised her eyebrows. “Do about it?”

“Well, we can’t let Alya and Nino leave their kids with a liar, can we?”

Marinette smiled at him. “I like the way you think.”

* * *

Nestled comfortably in the drawer of the end table across the room, Tikki listened to Adrien and Marinette’s conversation with no small bit of pride.

“I’m so glad they’re finally getting along,” Tikki said quietly to Plagg. 

“You’re telling me. I am done with the kid whining, ‘she doesn’t even _like_ me, Plagg! How will she ever _love_ me?’” Plagg scoffed.

“Aww, go easy on him. He’s in love.”

“Yeah, yeah. Can you imagine Marinette’s face when she realizes that my kid is Chat Noir? I bet you an entire wheel of cheese that there will be screaming.”

Tikki sighed. “I know her too well to take that bet.”

They fell silent and listened to their holders discuss ways of exposing Lila. Adrien was adamantly against debunking her lies in front of the entire class, while Marinette was insistent that they had to show their friends that Lila was lying.

“If we call her out in front of everybody, she’ll just make excuses or spin it so she’s the victim,” Adrien argued. “She’s _really_ good at covering her tracks.” 

Tikki heard Marinette sigh. “You’re right. But you know what did work? When I told her to stop harassing you.”

There was a silence, then Adrien said, “Um, she got you _expelled_ because of that.”

“Yeah, but the class started to believe me, and Lila had to back down. That’s what we need to do. Not target Lila, but target her behavior.”

“What about her lies?”

“Well…” Marinette said. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but they might fall apart on their own.”

“Wow. I can’t believe you’re saying that either.”

“I know. But there’s a reason Alya and Nino have suddenly started asking me to babysit again.”

“We don’t know that it’s because of Lila,” Adrien said. “Maybe she was just busy today.”

“Then maybe they need a little bit of help.”

Tikki looked at Plagg’s proud little smile, knowing that if she mentioned it he would immediately deny any fond feelings for their kids. 

Plagg caught her looking and sniffed, turning his head away. “He’s too nice for his own good,” he said disgustedly, turning back to his cheese.

“His kindness makes him a bit of a pushover, and my holder’s makes her hot-headed and irrational. They balance each other. Look at how well they work together now, even without being Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

“They really are made for each other, aren’t they, Sugarcube?”

Tikki flew closer to sit next to him. “Yes, they really are.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops there goes Marinette catching the feelings. And... *gasps* Is that… _foreshadowing_ I see here? *wink wink*
> 
> Comment and let me know what you think!


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The following Ladynoir conversation makes no sense, because let’s face it, Chat has no idea how to give advice about a situation he knows nothing about. He’s shooting in the dark here. Saying a lot of different things in the hopes that one of them will work. 
> 
> You have now been warned.

Marinette was glad when Alya and Nino came by to pick up their siblings in time to free her up for patrol. What really worried her, though, was how disappointed she’d been when Adrien, too, had had to leave. 

So she was glad she and Chat Noir had patrol tonight, so she could run across the rooftops of the city with her partner, looking out for crime and clearing her head. And the bonus time with Chat didn’t hurt, either. The banter as they flew across the streets was something she looked forward to all the time.

But her favorite part was when they slowed down and then ended up sitting together on a rooftop, looking out over Paris as the sun set and lit the city with an ethereal glow. It just felt so romantic, and sometimes Ladybug let herself pretend that it was real. That their partnership was something more. 

“This is nice,” Ladybug said after a while, after the sun had gone down. “You know, just hanging out together, without a supervillain destroying the city.”

“Or a five minute timer?” 

Ladybug pulled a face. “It’s worse than a curfew,” she agreed. “We should do this more often.” she said softly, watching Chat Noir’s face in the last bits of light.

He smiled and put an arm around her. “Yeah, it’s nice.”

Considering the level of Chat’s obliviousness, Ladybug was sure it was a “friends watching the sunset together” arm, not a “romantic evening watching the sunset” arm, but she leaned against him anyway, feeling his warmth even through the suits. She toyed with the idea of leaning her head against his shoulder, but chickened out. She didn’t want to make him uncomfortable. 

So she listened as Chat talked. He had a way of talking about everything and nothing all at once. He never told her about himself, neither of them did. By normal standards, they didn’t know each other at all. But every gesture he made, every animated expression on his face, and every dorky little comment was as familiar to her as her own. They knew each other on a deeper level, and she loved him so much it hurt.

But she couldn’t do it. What would it do to their partnership if they started dating? How would they even date, with the masks? What if they broke up, or worse, he rejected her?

 _He has a crush on Marinette._ Yeah, but did he really? 

_It’s better like this,_ Ladybug reminded herself. Best to wait until there was a reveal, when they could call each other by their real names. For now, she had these moments. She knew Chat loved her in his own way, just not in the way she would have wanted. 

Ladybug felt the vibrations of Chat’s voice where her shoulder touched his chest. 

“Okay, what’s wrong?”

Ladybug was startled out of her thoughts, looking at Chat Noir. His face was closer than she thought it was going to be, and his eyes glowed faintly in the gloom around them. “W-what?”

Chat tilted his head and gave her his don’t-even-try-that-I-know-you-better-than-you-know-yourself look. “You’re normally pretty chatty. What’s up, LB?”

Ladybug sighed, caught. “It’s nothing, really.”

“Yeah, right.” Chat Noir moved away from her, and Ladybug mourned the loss of his body heat as he shifted himself to face her, sitting cross cross and propping his head in his hands. “Go on. I’m listening.”

Ladybug folded her legs to the side and leaned on one arm, tilting her head to look at him. 

“What?” Chat asked. “Cat got your tongue?”

“Just basking in your undivided attention.”

Chat smirked at her. “Aww, poor bug got her ear talked off.”

“It’s okay. I like listening to you talk.”

“Yeah, well now it’s your turn, milady. Don’t try to change the subject.”

Ladybug waved him off, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. She didn’t want to dump her problems on him. Especially when they were _about_ him. “I’m just worried about… messing things up. In my personal life,” she said vaguely.

Chat’s face dropped, and Ladybug wished she hadn’t said anything. He gave her the most serious face she’d ever seen, and said solemnly, “Do you need the ‘we all make mistakes but you always come up with a brilliant plan to fix them’ talk again? Because I can do that.”

Ladybug looked away, failing to bite back her snort of amusement.

Chat leaned forward on his knees, sensing her weakness. “Milady, your knight in shining armor will-”

“Leather.”

“-Your knight in shining leather will sing your praises from every rooftop in Paris until the entire city is-”

Ladybug waved her hands at him, face burning. “Stooop it, you’re embarrassing me.”

Chat Noir grinned and sat back on his heels. “Feeling better?”

“Yes.”

“Good,” Chat said, looking as smug as a cat. “Can’t let the heroine of Paris go around thinking she’s some sort of troublemaker. That’s my job.”

“Troublemaker?”

“You know, power of destruction? Feels like I can’t get anything right sometimes.”

Ladybug sighed. “I feel you.”

“But things work out, you know?” Chat Noir turned his head to stare at the horizon, but it looked like he was seeing something very different. “I mean, it feels like you’re in a… a pit or something, and you’re just going around and around in circles.”

“Like there’s a big roadblock,” Ladybug said slowly. “stopping you from getting where you want to go.” 

Chat turned his head and met her gaze. He nodded slowly. “Yeah, exactly,” he said. “But things get better.”

“I hope you’re right.”

Chat quirked the corner of his mouth up at her. “Looks like we’re in the same boat.”

Ha. If only. 

Ladybug wondered what his roadblock was. What was his destination? “A boat without a sail,” she told him. “Or… a boat too big to sail down the river? I’m losing track of this metaphor.”

Chat chuckled. “A boat, and there’s sharp rocks up ahead,” he suggested.

“There we go.”

They smiled at each other, then in unspoken agreement, stood up and stretched. 

“Probably time to head home, huh?” Ladybug asked.

Chat made a face. “Unfortunately. But hey,” he took her hands in his own. “Whatever’s happening, it’s going to be okay.”

“Okay.” But was it really? She and Chat couldn’t know each other’s identities, and they couldn’t risk anything happening to her partnership. It wasn’t worth risking the safety of Paris. For god’s sake, they couldn’t even have a deep conversation that made any sense! Just vague reassurances and strange metaphors!

“I can tell you’re not convinced. So let me tell you, there’s no way you can possibly mess up worse than I did with Marinette.”

“With _Marinette_?” Ladybug, suddenly jolted out of her thoughts, wasn’t sure she’d heard properly.

“Yeah, I mean, you said it was okay if I, you know… is it not? I’m sorry…” Chat’s brow furrowed.

“No!” Ladybug hurried to assure him. “It’s okay.” He ‘messed up’ with Marinette? When? She was quickly losing track of this conversation. “I didn’t realize you were still talking to her.” She hadn’t seen him as Marinette in weeks.

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t going anywhere. Until I realized that I had spent so long trying to get through the roadblock, when all I really needed was to go over it.” he paused. “Wait, would it be the other way around? I don’t know. Anyway, I still have a way to go, but I’m way closer than I was before.”

Ladybug stared at him, barely focusing on his words. What was his roadblock with Marinette? That he was a superhero? But that was still the case, nothing had changed on that front, so that couldn’t be it...

Chat took her hands in his own. “You're the best person I know at getting through roadblocks. You can do this.”

Ladybug looked up at him and smirked, even though her head was still spinning. “You’re the one with the cataclysm.”

Chat laughed. “And I almost cataclysmed any chance I had with Marinette. If I can change the fact that she hated my guts, I know you can fix whatever problem stopping you from doing… whatever you’re worried about.”

 _She hated my guts… oh my god._ He wasn’t talking about his superhero persona after all.

“Thanks, kitty,” Ladybug managed, trying to remember how to breathe.

Chat gave her a salute, then bowed his way out. “Until later, Milady.”

Ladybug watched him go, hand clapped over her mouth, focusing on her breathing. Because if she didn’t she was sure she would start panicking. Or stop breathing. Or both.

Next thing she knew, she was swinging in through her balcony hatch, landing on her bed, having made the entire way home on autopilot. “Spots off.”

Tikki floated up, looking at her worriedly. “... Marinette?”

Marinette stared blankly in front of her for another few seconds, then grabbed a pillow and buried her face in it. “Chat Noir is… Adrien,” she mumbled.

Marinette felt a light pressure as TIkki came and nestled in her hair comfortingly. “You’re taking this a lot better than I would have expected.”

Marinette screamed, the sound muffled by the pillow. _Adrien_ was _Chat Noir_. Now that her mind was finally starting to wrap itself around that fact, it opened up a whole host of other worries. 

Tikki sighed. “There we go.” Marinette thought Tikki might be patting her head, but it was hard to tell.

Marinette rolled over so she was lying on her back. “He thinks I hated him, Tikki. This is awful! I could never hate him! Chat, or Adrien!” her voice was climbing higher with every word.

“But I thought you did hate him.”

“No! Sure, I didn’t really want to be friends with him, but I never hated him!” She shook her head. “Oh my god, I called him spineless. _Spineless,_ Tikki! Chat Noir, spineless!” Marinette laughed, her voice still higher than usual. 

“Okay, Marinette, slow down…” Tikki said. She floated to where Marinette could see her, obviously concerned, but Marinette couldn’t slow down.

“I yelled at him for so many different things. Oh my god, he was right in front of me the whole time and I didn’t even like him!”

“Marinette-”

Marinette suddenly sat bolt upright, almost knocking Tikki out of the air. “I thought he was Hawkmoth! Holy shit, I almost accused Chat Noir of being Hawkmoth!” Marinette fell silent, contemplating that.

Tikki slowly came to rest in Marinette’s lap. “Are you good, now?”

Marinette nodded slowly. “I think so.” She peered down at TIkki accusingly. “You knew it was Adrien all along, didn’t you?”

Tikki shrugged innocently. “Most of the time, yeah.” Marinette pouted at her, and Tikki giggled. “You guys are friends, now! At least you didn’t find out when you still hated him.”

Marinette didn’t correct her, too busy running through everything she knew about Adrien. She had to admit she could see it, especially now that she knew him better, as friends. Adrien and Chat were different enough that she wasn’t berating herself for not seeing it sooner, but they were definitely the same person. 

“Remember when he told me I reminded him of Ladybug?” At the time, she’d been flattered, if a little blindsided by the compliment coming from Adrien, of all people. But now, she could tell that the comment had meant a lot more coming from not only Adrien, but Chat Noir. Because Chat Noir knew Ladybug, just like Adrien knew Marinette.

And when she’d gotten annoyed at Adrien soon after, who had visited her but Chat Noir? And then Chat hadn’t visited again, out of concern for her safety, yes, but wasn’t that also around the time she and Adrien had decided to take a shot at being friends?

Marinette finally let herself think about the implications of this. Chat had alluded to liking her, and Adrien knew her…

Marinette reached for her phone. She flipped to Adrien’s contact and hovered over the call button before chickening out and calling Alya instead.

“Why didn’t you call him?” Tikki asked. 

“Because I want to make sure… Hey, Alya! Did you guys get home alright?”

Alya waved at her from the screen of her phone. _“Yeah, I’m just chilling with my family right now. What’s up?”_

Marinette scratched the back of her neck. “Um, well, I kind of had a question for you…”

Alya raised an eyebrow at her. _“Does it have anything to do with the fact that you’re sitting in the dark?”_

Marinette started, realizing that she hadn’t even turned on the lights in her room before slipping into freak out mode. “Oh, um, right,” she said, moving to turn them on. “Anyway, uh…” she hesitated.

_“Cat got your tongue? Spill, girl!”_

For some reason, the reminder of her partner steeled her nerves, and she said in a rush, “Um, I was wondering if you know if maybe Adrienhadacrushonme?” For a brief second Marinette panicked, worried that she was dead wrong and Alya was about to laugh her head off at her.

 _“Oh my god, FINALLY!”_ Alya’s shout was so loud Marinette almost dropped her phone. 

Scrambling to get a better grip on it, Marinette asked, “So he does?”

_“Girl, you have no idea! That boy is freaking infatuated with you. He’s so in love, I’m surprised little hearts don’t shoot out of his eyes when he looks at you.”_

Marinette felt herself turning red. How could she not have noticed?

_“Okay, I’m exaggerating. But only a little.”_

“For how long?”

_“Since the beginning of school, apparently.”_

“ _What!?_ ” Marinette hadn’t been expecting that. That was… that was months. That was before they’d been friends. That was when she’d still been giving him the silent treatment and pretending he didn’t exist. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she hissed at Alya.

_“I didn’t know until Nino told me. But seriously girl, he was trying to flirt with you the whole time.”_

“Oh my god. And I was so mean to him.”

_“Aw, you didn’t know. And quite honestly, he was a train wreck trying to talk to you.”_

“You’re telling me,” Marinette said, trying to wrap her mind around the fact that he’d liked her the _entire_ time he knew her. He’d seemed so arrogant and annoying. Driving her crazy, when really he just wanted her to pay attention to him?

 _That stupid cat._ “I’m going to kill him,” Marinette said absentmindedly.

_“Figuratively or literally? I’ll help you either way, but I hope you mean figuratively, because you’d be cute together.”_

“You think so?” Marinette couldn’t help but perk up at that.

_“Yes! Absolutely, yes! Please tell me you’ve got a thing for him.”_

Marinette considered that, then smiled slowly. She had the upper hand on Adrien, on _Chat Noir_ , and she wasn’t going to let it go so easily. “Maybe,” she told Alya, who was waiting for an answer.

Alya shook her head at her. _“Maybe?”_

“Okay, yes,” Marinette admitted. “Oh, hush,” she said as Alya squealed in excitement. “First I need to punish him for his awful attempts at flirting.”

_“Well, if you’re looking to kill him figuratively, I’ve got the perfect idea…”_

Marinette’s smile grew as she and Alya plotted together. That cat was going to get as good as he gave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comment and let me know what you think!


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a tad carried away with this chapter and I will not apologize.
> 
> Also: I am reeling at what happened at the Capitol Building in the States yesterday. This kind of behavior makes me so sad and angry, and I hope that somehow America can recover and be the kind of nation it was meant to be. I hope everyone out there is safe and doing okay.

Adrien was standing in the courtyard, chatting with Alya and Nino, when Alya glanced over Adrien’s shoulder and - with a strange sort of grin that she tried to cover with her hand - announced, “Hey, Marinette’s here.”

Adrien turned, ready to greet Marinette as she approached, but for some reason instead of joining them she stopped a few feet away, hesitant. Her blue eyes looked him up and down, taking him in as if she was seeing him for the first time. Confused, Adrien fought the urge to fidget, reaching behind him to rub the back of his neck as her eyes flickered up to meet his. 

Marinette suddenly surged forward and tackled him in a hug, knocking him back a step as she wrapped her arms around his neck in the tightest hug he had ever been given. “ _Oof!_ Hi Marinette,” he wheezed, exchanging an utterly bewildered glance with Nino. Was she okay? Since when had their friendship been the hugging type? _Not that I’m complaining,_ he thought as he wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her back. _Nope, definitely not complaining._

Marinette giggled for some reason, and pulled away slightly to look at him with shining eyes. 

He could get lost in those eyes. 

After a long moment, Marinette finally released him fully and reached up to smooth his collar before backing up and tucking her hair behind her ear self-consciously. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Adrien said quickly. “What was that for?”

Marinette shared a swift glance with Alya before shrugging and saying. “Just for being a good friend.”

Adrien glanced at Alya for an explanation, because Alya always had an explanation. Alya just shrugged, though there was a suspicious twinkle in her eye.

“Um, no problem?”

“And thanks again for helping me with the little _kittens_ yesterday. You helped me avoid a _cat_ -astrophe.” Marinette grinned at Adrien as if they were sharing an inside joke.

Adrien smiled back, uncertainly. Why was she punning all of a sudden? He loved puns, but for some reason it felt like Marinette had gotten a memo that he hadn’t. “No problem. It’s good practice for the future.”

Alya suddenly made a funny sound, and Adrien turned to see her clapping her hand over her mouth and nose and turning away. Nino grinned at him while clapping his girlfriend on the back. “Smooth, dude.”

Alya couldn’t help herself; she burst out laughing and grabbed Marinette’s arm, dragging her towards the school in fits of laughter. Marinette, though blushing, was grinning from ear to ear and kept saying, “I told you so,” to Alya.

Adrien was only half paying attention because he had just realized what he had accidentally insinuated to Marinette and was contemplating ways to disappear. The sewer, maybe?

“Dude.” Nino said, punching him in the arm as Adrien smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand. “If you’d done that on purpose, it would have been the best pick-up line _ever._ ”

Adrien just groaned as he followed Nino to the locker rooms, poking at his chest to stop Plagg from snickering. “You be quiet,” he hissed.

Plagg shut up, but Adrien could still feel him shaking with silent laughter at his misfortune. Adrien was just glad he hadn’t said that a few months ago, or Marinette would have kicked his ass to the curb for the insinuation. Now he just had to wait for his embarrassment to pass and for everyone to forget about his latest screw-up.

* * *

Plagg, being an abstract representation of chaos and destruction, didn’t normally pay much attention to what was going on in his kid’s mundane, everyday life. If Adrien insisted on going to school when he could stay at home, that was his problem. Plagg had other things to worry about. Like cheese. And cheese.

So when Adrien was tackle-hugged, Plagg assumed it was Chloe and prepared to wait out the invasion of his space until he could go back to enjoying his cheese in peace. He was not prepared, however, for Adrien’s strangled greeting of, “Hi, Marinette.”

_Marinette?_

Plagg almost shrugged it off. So Ladybug was a hugger today. It wasn’t _that_ unusual. Tikki’s chosens tended to be pretty excitable.

“And thanks again for helping me with the little _kittens_ yesterday. You helped me avoid a _cat_ -astrophe.”

Plagg’s eyes widened, and for an instant he forgot all about his cheese. The cat puns could only mean one thing.

Cautiously, knowing Tikki would chew him out later for the risk but doing it anyway, Plagg poked his head out. Marinette’s gaze flickered down and they made brief eye contact. She winked at him. Plagg winked back before retreating back into the shirt, chuckling quietly to himself. Ladybug knew, all right.

Adrien had no idea what he was in for.

* * *

Normally Adrien would have been excited when Ms. Bustier announced that their partners for the upcoming project were the people sitting behind or in front of them, because that meant Marinette. Today, though, Adrien closed his eyes briefly and prayed that Marinette had already forgotten his slip up that morning.

Nino’s whisper of, “Good luck, you’re going to need it,” didn’t help as his best friend left him to go sit with Alya.

Neither did Marinette’s grin as she slipped into Nino’s vacated seat.

“Hey there, partner,” Adrien greeted.

Marinette just giggled, though Adrien had no idea what could possibly be so funny.

Then followed one of the most excruciating hours of Adrien’s life, in which he had to pretend that he didn’t notice how amazing, or how beautiful, or smart, or incredible Marinette was… It wasn’t her fault. Just like it wasn’t her fault she happened to be sitting really close to him. Or playing with her hair. Or biting her lip softly at him. Or-

“Adrien?”

Adrien blinked. “Sorry, what?”

“I asked if you thought we should use red or blue.”

“Right. Um, red.”

Marinette’s brow furrowed. “That’s the third time you’ve zoned out today. Is everything okay?” She scooted even closer and put one hand on his shoulder, the other reaching up to his forehead.

Adrien swallowed hard and fought the urge to lean into her hand. “I’m fine. Sorry.”

“I’m glad we get to work on his project together,” Marinette said suddenly.

“Yeah, me too.”

“You’re very _claw_ -ver when it comes to history.” she propped her chin on her hand and looked at him softly.

“What?” Was she… _flirting_ with him?

“Oh, nothing. Just _kitten_ around.” Marinette winked.

Adrien stared at her. There it was again. The cat puns. There was no way she could know… right? He glanced around him nervously, but immediately wished he hadn’t. Nino was looking at him sympathetically, and Alya had her face buried in her hands and was shaking slightly with what Adrien could only assume was suppressed laughter.

The bell rang and Adrien looked back at Marinette, who put her hand over his and said seriously, “You’re a really good friend, Adrien.”

Then before he could so much as blink, she swung her bag over her shoulder and fled the room with Alya, both girls giggling madly, leaving Adrien staring after her.

What on earth was going on?

“So? Dude, _relax_.”

“You don’t understand, Nino. I swear, she was flirting with me the whole time!” Adrien threw his hands in the air as Nino opened his locker. “The entire class, she was playing with her hair and biting her lip and being so distracting and then she up and _friendzones_ me!”

“Okay.”

“And not to mention the cat puns! I mean, what is that about?”

“Dude, they’re just cat puns.”

“Exactly. _Cat puns._ ”

Nino emerged from his locker long enough to give him a concerned look. “Are you okay? You seem really… agitated.”

Adrien ran his hands through his hair, trying to calm down. Nino was obviously worried now, and it wasn’t like Adrien could tell him what the sudden presence of cat puns might mean. “She’s just acting really weird today,” he said, voice quieter now.

“I’ll say. Your face when she checked your temperature!” Nino laughed.

Adrien glared at him. “Ok, seriously, what is going on?”

Nino put his hands up innocently. “I have no idea, I swear.”

“Then why are you laughing at me?”

“Because it’s funny!”

“No, it’s not funny! You’re supposed to be my bro!”

“Ok, ok. I’ll see what I can do.”

The door swung open again, and Alya and Marinette walked in, giggling together about something.

“Uh oh,” Nino muttered.

Adrien looked at him. “What?”

Nino shook his head at him sympathetically, adjusting his cap. “They’re giggly. It’s always a bad sign when they’re that giggly.” He patted Adrien on the back. “Nice knowing you.”

* * *

Marinette would be lying if she said she wasn’t enjoying herself. 

She figured she deserved it after the shock of last night. And Adrien definitely deserved to squirm a bit for everything he’d put her through. Alya hadn’t understood why Marinette suggested cat puns and pick-up lines, but she had insisted. Marinette was getting back at that stupid cat for mixed signals, dumb cat puns, and pretending to like Kagami.

If he was squirming now, that was nothing compared to the hot seat she and Alya had cooked up for him.

Of course, later she would tell him that she knew who he was and put him out of his misery.

Eventually.

For now she had to focus on keeping a straight face while Adrien floundered in indecision.

“Ok-” Alya let out a jaw-cracking yawn before shaking her head. “-what now?”

Marinette gave her friend a concerned look as they weaved their way through the crowded hallway. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, just tired. I talked to Nino for a while after we hung up.”

Woah. Marinette and Alya had talked until really late. “What about?” she asked.

“Just a little thing… I’ll tell you about it later. We’ve got things to do.” Alya waved off her concern and gestured to the locker room door. “Pick up lines now, right?”

“The cheesiest one I can think of,” Marinette told her, swinging open the door in front of them and letting Alya walk in first.

Alya laughed. “What are you gonna say?” she whispered conspiratorially.

“I don’t know. I figured I’d wing it.”

Alya scoffed. “Girl, you are the worst at improv.”

“I don’t know, I think I’ve been doing pretty good. It helps when he gets all flustered.”

Alya giggled with her. “Okay, but you can’t just walk up to him and drop a line on him. You’ve got to work the situation into it. So, hmm… sorry, but it’s for a good cause.”

“What is?” Marinette asked but instead of answering, Alya put a hand on Marinette’s back and firmly shoved her towards Nino and Adrien. Marinette stumbled, arms flailing. “Woa-hmph!” Her forehead slammed into someone’s chest and strong hands gripped her elbows, stopping her from collapsing to the floor.

“Woah, there,” a familiar voice murmured, and Marinette looked up to see Adrien looking down on her in concern. Marinette blinked as Chat Noir flashed through her mind, and the same way he looked at her after catching Ladybug.

Thinking of Chat Noir reminded Marinette of why she was here, and she blurted out, “I think I just fell for you.”

The look on Adrien’s face was priceless, and Marinette had to fight to keep a straight face. Based on the chortles coming from behind her, Alya and Nino were having less success.

The tips of Adrien’s ears flushed, but he didn’t immediately snap back with another line. Hmm. That wasn’t like him at all.

“Thanks for _cat_ -ching me,” Marinette said when Adrien still didn’t say anything. It looked like her kitty wasn’t as smooth when he was on the receiving end. But she already knew that. Throwing caution to the wind, Marinette rose up on her tiptoes and gently caressed his jaw. “Did I bang into you? _Purr_ -haps I can kiss it better?”

Adrien spluttered, blushing harder. Someone whistled. 

Marinette batted her eyes at Adrien. “If you don’t like it, you can give it back.”

People laughed, and Alya yelled, “Get a room!”

A determined look suddenly passed over Adrien’s face, and he crouched down.

“What are you doing?” Marinette asked, breaking character as Adrien reached for her shoes.

“Tying your shoes for you.” Adrien tapped her foot and looked up, green eyes crinkling in amusement. “Don’t want you falling for anybody else.”

Marinette gaped at him, but couldn’t help laughing as the rest of the locker room instantly broke out into pandemonium. _There he is._ Her smooth kitty. Her cocky sunshine child.

“You always have to have the last word, don’t you, Sunshine?” she said fondly, patting his arm as he stood up again. After a moment’s thought, she added, “You’re such a good friend for tying my shoes for me.”

Adrien’s face immediately fell, and Marinette almost took it back. Almost. But not yet.

“Dude!” Nino yelled, running up to Adrien. “Like, what? Where did Mr. Smooth Talker come from? Teach me your ways!”

Alya smacked him on the arm. “You already have a girlfriend.”

“I don’t know if a cat’s confidence can be taught.” Marinette said, noticing Adrien’s face pale slightly. Good. He was worried.

There was a brief moment, as she and Alya left the locker rooms for their next class, where she wondered if maybe she was being a little hard on him. Then she decided against it. Based on his locker room performance, Adrien could handle himself.

“What is Adrien’s deal with cat puns?” Alya asked quietly, looking around to make sure no one was listening. “The dork can pun like no one’s business, but every time you do it he looks more and more terrified.”

Marinette shrugged, then quickly changed the subject. “Well, I hate to say it, but I think he won that round. Time to step it up?”

Alya cackled, rubbing her hands together comically. “Initiate Phase Two!”

Nah, she wasn’t being too hard. Cats always land on their feet, after all. And her kitty was one of the best.

That didn’t mean he was off the hook, though. Certainly not.

* * *

Halfway through Ms. Mendeliev’s class, under the cover of their science experiment, Nino leaned over to Adrien and said, “I think I’ve got it! They’re playing chicken!”

“What?” Adrien asked, looking up from where he was measuring out the alcohol.

“The girls are playing chicken. That’s why Marinette is being weird.”

“What’s chicken?”

Adrien was skeptical, but after Nino had explained the gist of the game, he had to admit it explained why Marinette was being so flirty all of a sudden.

“And it explains why Marinette keeps calling you ‘a friend’,” Nino explained, taking the beaker from Adrien. “She would hate to pretend to be something she’s not.” Nino glanced up at Adrien, as if he realized what he had just said. “Um, that is, I didn’t mean that she doesn’t-”

“It’s okay, Nino,” Adrien assured him. “I get what you mean.”

And it made sense. Why Marinette was being so flirty, why she kept repeating that he was a good friend, and why she and Alya kept running off in fits of giggles. 

The only thing it didn’t explain was the cat puns.

_She knows I like puns,_ Adrien reasoned. Maybe it was all part of the game? But why cat puns, specifically? It wasn’t impossible that she knew his identity-she knew Ladybug’s, after all. But that had been an accident, and she’d come clean about it afterwards. It was probably just that she knew Chat Noir more than most civilians did, so cat puns were what she knew best.

That’s what he told himself, at least. _It’s just a coincidence,_ he repeated in his head. If he thought about it too much, he’d drive himself crazy worrying if he’d been found out or not. 

_It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, to have Marinette know my identity._

Adrien shook his head. What was he thinking? _It’s just a coincidence._

_It’s just a coincidence,_ he thought as Marinette joked about kitty cats and stole french fries off his plate at lunch.

_Just a coincidence,_ he repeated to himself when Marinette thanked him, once again, for being such a “ _purr_ -fect friend”. 

_Just a coincidence,_ he insisted in his head as he caught Marinette doodling cat heads in the margins of her paper during their free period in the library. _Just a coinci-_

“So, Adrien.” Marinette said casually.

Adrien’s head snapped up, hoping Marinette hadn’t noticed him sneaking a peek at her paper. “Yeah?”

“Have you thought any more about asking out Kagami?”

Adrien’s blood ran cold.

Alya and Nino looked up from their whispered conversation (Adrien could have sworn he heard Lila’s name a couple of times), suddenly forgetting about whatever they’d been talking about in favor of watching Adrien’s newest humiliation.

Why, why, _why_ , was he so dumb when it came to Marinette? Why had he ever told her he liked Kagami? Adrien suddenly felt like he deserved all of the confusing signals and Marinette-induced stress he’d received today, just for that one, desperate little lie he had told to try and get a cute, angry girl to talk to him.

“Yeah, Adrien,” Alya said, turning towards him and propping her chin up on her hand. “Tell us about Kagami.”

The gleam in her eyes was going to feature in his nightmares, Adrien just knew it.

From beside him, Nino gave a low whistle and murmured so only Adrien could hear, “Dude, you are so dead.”

Adrien fidgeted in his seat, unable to meet Marinette’s eyes, knowing she’d immediately see right through him. “I, uh…”, he stammered, then looked at Nino in a plea for help.

Luckily, Nino took pity on him. “Aw, give him a break-”

Marinette and Alya waved Nino off. “No, I want to hear this,” they said together, still looking expectantly at Adrien.

Adrien flinched. That was a little creepy.

“Well?” Alya asked. Oh, she was definitely enjoying this. He should have listened to her from the beginning. Screw that, he should have begged for her forgiveness a long time ago. Though he knew what she would say: it wasn’t her forgiveness he should be begging for.

Desperately, Adrien tried to laugh it off. “Kagami? Oh, well, that was a while ago. I don’t think-”

“You know, there’s no need to be shy about it,” Marinette said. “Kagami’s a great girl.”

“She’s cute-” Alya chimed in.

“And smart-”

“And really good at fencing-”

“I don’t know!” Adrien interrupted them before they could continue, feeling a little too much like he was under an interrogation lamp. “I don’t think it’s a good fit, is all.”

“Really?” Marinette furrowed her brow. “You seemed pretty sure about it before. You said you thought she was amazing but you were worried that she’d never see you that way.”

“Yes, well…” Adrien wasn’t going to tell her that he’d been thinking of Marinette when he’d said those things.

“Just because you don’t think she likes you doesn’t mean you should give up, Adrien,” Marinette put her hand over his. “If you’re nervous about it, we can help you. I know for a fact that Alya makes an excellent wingman.”

Alya gave him a predatory grin, and Adrien shuddered.

“We should try to get you two-”

“Look,” Adrien said suddenly. He didn’t know what he was saying, just that he couldn’t stand the twisting feeling in his gut anymore, listening to Marinette encourage him to ask out Kagami. “Kagami’s a wonderful friend, and she’s a great person, but I just don’t feel that way about her, okay?”

Silence followed his outburst, and Adrien realized suddenly that he’d probably never spoken like that at school before. Unable to look at Marinette, he focused on Alya and Nino, focusing on their startled expressions. “I’m sorry.” 

He hadn’t realized he’d apologized by reflex until Marinette spoke up. “You don’t need to apologize.”

Adrien gathered up the courage to look at Marinette - and found that her face was alight with a huge grin as she looked back at him. 

Alya’s look of shock quickly melted into skepticism. “I don’t know, I think he should apolo-”  
She was cut off with a wince and a glare at Marinette, who had likely just kicked her underneath the table.

Adrien loved that girl.

And whether or not she looked so happy because he said he didn’t love Kagami or because he’d finally stood up for himself, it didn’t matter.

“You don’t need to apologize.” Marinette said again, more firmly. “That’s how you feel. You should never apologize for your feelings.” She held his gaze as he said it. 

Alya and Nino looked at them, then at each other. “Wellllll,” Nino said, the word drawn out awkwardly. “We’re going to head to class.”

Alya nodded and stood up with him, grabbing her bag.

“Why?” Adrien asked. “We still have twenty minutes left.”

“There’s something…” Alya and Nino exchanged glances. “Well, we need to be there early, today.”

Adrien exchanged a glance with Marinette. “Um, okay.”

As Alya and Nino left, Adrien couldn’t help but notice that some of their other classmates noticed the pair leaving and got up to leave too. He was about to mention it to Marinette, but then she leaned forward, opened her textbook again, and said, “So, should we continue with our _hiss_ -tory?” Adrien stared at her until she looked back up again. “What? Cat got your tongue?”

Maybe it was that he’d always been more comfortable with Marinette, or maybe he was still on the high of speaking his mind, but Adrien had spent the entire day preening under Marinette’s attention only to doubt himself when she called him a good friend, and then plummeting straight to panic as soon as she made another goddamn cat pun. 

So he leaned forward and hissed, “Okay, what on earth is up with all these cat puns? Can’t you tell it’s driving me crazy?”

Marinette blinked up at him, batting her eyes innocently, before glancing over at his bag, which was laying on the table next to them, half open. “Is he always this moody?” Marinette asked. “Doesn’t he realize that driving him crazy was kind of the point?”

It shouldn’t have taken Adrien as long as it did to realize that Marinette wasn’t talking to his bag… but rather, to the kwami that poked his head out of his bag and said, “Oh believe me, this is him on a _good_ day.”

Based on Marinette and Plagg's expressions, Adrien’s face right then must have been priceless. But he couldn’t focus on that. All he could think was, _She knows. Oh my god, she knows._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up next: Marinette finally puts her poor kitty out of his misery, and Alya and Nino stop fretting and take some action.
> 
> Comment and let me know what you think!


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I write this chapter in one sitting? Yes. Am I happy with it? Debatable. Am I posting it anyway? Of course I am.
> 
> Aaaand yet another chapter I split into two because it’s too long. This is a much longer fic than I originally planned, y’all.
> 
> I think I’ve mentioned before that it’s so hard to write Lila and Lila-caused situations and keep everyone in character. I did my best.

At any other time, Marinette would have rolled her eyes at the not-so-subtle way Alya and Nino were trying to leave her and Adrien alone together. But today, it was exactly what she needed.

Marinette casually opened her textbook, wondering if Plagg was listening to them. If he was, he was probably laughing his butt off. “So,” she said casually. “Should we continue with our _hiss_ -tory?” Marinette determinedly looked down at the table, pretending to read a passage about Ancient Egypt until she couldn’t take the silence anymore and looked up at Adrien, who looked nearly ready to tear his hair out. “What?” she asked innocently. “Cat got your tongue?”

Adrien gave her the most done look she had ever seen. “Okay, what on earth is up with all these cat puns?” he asked. “Can’t you tell it’s driving me crazy?”

Good, Marinette thought, though it only took a quick glance at Adrien’s face to know that it was time to end the joke. There was such a thing as going too far, after all.

But she couldn’t resist getting in a last little bit of fun, so she pouted, batting her eyelashes at him as if she didn’t know what he was talking about. “Is he always this moody?” she asked in the direction of Adrien’s bag, where she knew Plagg was probably holed up. “Doesn’t he realize that driving him crazy was kind of the point?”

Plagg caught on and stuck his head out of the bag. “Oh believe me, this is him on a _good_ day,” he said, totally poker-faced.

Marinette watched with a smug smile as Adrien’s jaw dropped and his face slowly paled. Too bad it probably wasn’t a good time to take a picture. She wondered if she’d looked anything like that when she’d figured out Chat Noir’s identity.

Probably.

“So, um…” Adrien stammered, eyes flickering back and forth between her and where Plagg had retreated back into his bag. “I see you’ve met my, uh… talking… cat?”

Marinette would have laughed at Adrien’s weak excuse, but she remembered only too well the time she’d made the same exact excuse for Tikki. To the Guardian, of all people! 

The reminder of Master Fu made Marinette’s stomach drop suddenly as she thought of all the warnings he’d given her, to never, ever let anyone find out her identity. The shock of finding out Chat’s identity had completely driven Master Fu and all of his warnings of secrecy out of her mind. Even Chat Noir was never supposed to know, though she trusted him with her life. The stakes were too high, Master Fu had insisted. And somehow, even though he was long gone, and she knew Chat’s identity already (and what was she going to do, take away her own miraculous?), Marinette started to doubt herself. She was probably being too hasty, right? What if Hawkmoth found out her identity? The best-kept secrets were the ones never shared, after all. And she was the Guardian. She had more responsibility than ever now.

She couldn’t let Master Fu down again.

Having come to a decision, Marinette realized that Adrien was still rambling about rare cat breeds and she raised an eyebrow at him, effectively shutting him up. She had to admit, it was a bit disconcerting to see Adrien so… agitated.

Marinette glanced around the library, conscious of the students still scattered throughout the room, then leaned towards Adrien and beckoned him closer so she could whisper in his ear, “I’m Multimouse, Sunshine. Or should I say, Chat Noir? I know what a kwami is.”

Smirking at his flabbergasted expression, she sat back and closed her textbook, sliding it into her bag.

Adrien’s hand suddenly closed around her wrist. “Oh no, you don’t,” he growled. “You don’t get to just drop that on me and then _leave!_ ”

That wasn’t what she had been planning, but she didn’t tell him that, instead leaning forward onto her elbows and looking him right in the eyes. “And how are you going to stop me?” 

Woah, that came out much bolder than she thought it would. Marinette mentally congratulated herself.

Adrien mimicked her pose, leaning forward on his elbows so their faces were so close together that Marinette could feel his breath on her cheek. “The mouse let the cat out of the bag,” Adrien whispered softly, “but she forgot that cats eat mice.”

“Can we go back to the part where my kid doesn’t know what to do when you flirt with him?” Plagg’s muffled voice came from somewhere in Adrien’s bag. “That was funny.”

“I wasn’t flirting,” Marinette protested automatically, though she flushed red. It wasn’t like her to be so forward. Was she that obvious?

_Yes, you are,_ a voice that sounded suspiciously like Alya said in her head.

Adrien looked pinker than usual too, and he leaned back to a normal distance, causing Marinette to feel a pang of disappointment that she quickly suppressed. That wasn’t what she should be thinking about right now.

“Okay, seriously, though,” Adrien said. “You-you know who I am? For real? It’s supposed to be a secret.” He suddenly ran his hands through his hair. “Oh man, Ladybug is going to kill me.”

Plagg poked his head out of the bag again and gave Marinette an accusing look. Marinette shoved him back down with her finger.

It didn’t matter what Plagg thought, Marinette knew that there were serious risks involved in revealing herself to Adrien. She’d associated Ladybug with Master Fu, and accidentally revealed his identity and made him erase his own memories so Hawkmoth wouldn’t get the miracle box. She’d associated herself with Chloe, and she had gotten targeted by Hawkmoth. Somehow, in another timeline, Chat had found out her identity and he’d gotten akumatized and destroyed the entirety of Paris. She was going to learn from her mistakes. She had to. 

“You can’t tell _anyone,_ okay?” Adrien was saying, deadly serious. “Wait, what am I saying? Of course you wouldn’t tell anyone. I didn’t mean to make it sound like you wouldn’t I-I just…”

Marinette couldn’t help but smile fondly. He was so cute. And she was glad he was taking his so seriously.

“...How did you find out?”

Marinette’s brain stuttered for a second. _Shit._ She hadn’t thought that far ahead. She could see Plagg inside Adrien’s bag, holding a wedge of cheese and snickering at her as she scrambled to come up with something believable. Marinette glared at him and told Adrien, “I saw your kwami.”

That shut Plagg up fast.

Adrien wheeled on him. “Plagg!”

Now it was Marinette’s turn to snicker at Plagg’s misfortune while Adrien whispered-lectured him on staying out of sight. Plagg pouted at Marinette sullenly, and she smiled sweetly back as she placed a hand on her purse so no one would notice it shaking with Tikki’s silent laughter. Marinette made a note to herself to make it up to Plagg later as she checked the groups of students around them, out of habit. Couldn’t have someone noticing that Adrien was talking to his bag.

She took the moment to watch Adrien and Plagg, finally reveling in her realization. _Adrien is Chat Noir._ He was her partner. He liked her.

The only thing between them now was her. Her, and the memories of Master Fu that kept bouncing around her head, twisting her stomach with guilt. If only she’d been a better Ladybug… remembered to detransform…

Marinette shook herself out of those thoughts before they could spiral, because they never led anywhere good. All she could do now was do better. Be a better Ladybug. And hey, at least things were starting to look up in her personal life. She knew who Chat Noir was, and he _had a crush on her!_ If that wasn’t good luck, she didn’t know what was.

* * *

Alya rubbed her temples, utterly wrung out. She regretted not including Marinette and Adrien in this. Adrien was good at keeping them on topic and not letting things escalate. Marinette was good at taking charge when this got hectic.

Like now.

How had they gone from a calm, polite intervention of Lila’s “friendly” behavior towards Adrien to an argument on why Marinette was expelled? Pretty soon, classmates were going to start taking sides: Lila or Marinette. And it wasn’t going to be pretty. 

“Everyone be quiet!” Alya called finally, waiting a moment to allow the agitated chatter to hush. “Here’s the problem: It’s Lila’s word against Marinette’s. And Marinette was cleared of all charges. So… who’s lying?”

“Alya, no one’s lying,” Lila insisted. “It was a misunderstanding, and I’m truly sorry for all the trouble I caused.”

Alya could have growled with frustration. Then why was she implying otherwise? For that matter, why had she brought up Marinette in the first place? Marinette had nothing to do with this. 

“But _how_?” Nino asked, who was also obviously exasperated. “Where was the misunderstanding?”

“I’m sorry, but… I’m really not supposed to say.” Lila said. 

Alya frowned. Lila refused to say anything helpful, though she seemed so innocent. Lila said Marinette bullied her, Marinette said Lila framed her, and they both got off scot-free. Were they all overreacting?

Alya was loyal to her friends. Always. That had never been a problem for her until weeks ago, when it had appeared that Lila was bullying Marinette. Who was she supposed to believe? She was so relieved when it turned out to be a misunderstanding. She didn’t have to choose.

But what if it wasn’t a misunderstanding? One thing journalists had to be cautious of was jumping onto the story they most wanted to hear.

And it was appearing less and less likely that this was the right story.

Alya watched her classmates bicker, wondering how they got here. Everyone usually got along great! Why had Lila even brought Marinette up in the first place? That wasn’t even the point of this meeting, they were supposed to be discussing ways to make sure everyone felt safe and comfortable, and respecting people and their boundaries, physically or for how they want their kids to be treated. If the whole expulsion deal (which had nothing to do with Adrien or lying to kids) was a misunderstanding, wouldn’t she want everyone to forget about it? It must be embarrassing...

Unless she was holding a grudge. But there was no reason for her to hold a grudge unless she didn’t think it was a misunderstanding.

There was no concrete evidence that Lila was guilty of anything other than a few babysitting mistakes and naive social behavior.

But Alya would be a lot more comfortable chalking it all up to a couple of social mistakes if Lila would own up and try to do better instead of denying everything to the last breath.

Something was off.

“Um, what’s going on?” A voice asked from Alya’s shoulder. She turned to see Adrien and Marinette at the same time everyone else did, and suddenly the noise in the room got twice as loud as everyone started bombarding them with questions.

“Students!” A shocked voice came from the doorway. “What is going on?” Ms. Bustier strode into the room amidst the sudden quiet.

Students shifted uneasily, glancing back and forth between each other.

“Why don’t we all sit down and say something friendly to a neighbor?” Ms. Bustier suggested. 

Normally Alya appreciated the exercise, but now she wanted to roll her eyes. It was going to take a lot more than a few compliments to fix a class that didn’t know what to do when three of the nicest people in the class were apparently at odds with each other.

Alya ignored Marinette’s questioning look and slid her phone out of her pocket, ready to text Nino about this during class, while papers rustled and people moved to their seats. And as everyone settled in and got ready for class, no one noticed Lila, seated in the back, pull out her phone and fire off a quick text.

* * *

A few blocks away, Nathalie Sancour looked up from her tablet and said, “Sir, Lila Rossi has sent you a message.”

Gabriel took the tablet from her and read it, face twisting into a frown. “I see,” he said, but offered no other comment as he handed it back to his assistant.

“Are you going to help her?”

Gabriel shook his head. “No, of course not. I must admit, I did hope she would remain useful for a while longer, but considering her last…” he paused delicately. “-unsuccessful venture, I think it’s best we go ahead with our plan.”

“Sir,” Nathalie interjected, “she did almost succeed. If it wasn’t for Adrien-”

“She failed to inform us before she acted.” Gabriel interrupted. “We should cut her off before she becomes too much of a loose cannon.”

Nathalie inclined her head. “Of course, sir. What time should I set the appointment to?”

“Three-thirty. And make sure to get back quickly. I’m going to need some help for the second part.” Gabriel turned back to his work, dismissing Nathalie. 

“Understood, sir.”

* * *

Marinette probably should have paid attention in class, given how much school she normally misses to fight supervillains, but she was too busy pestering Alya for information on why, exactly, the class had blown up as soon as she and Adrien had walked into the room. Alya, for her part, wasn’t telling, but seemed distracted with her phone. Even more than usual. Just what had they been talking about?

Marinette didn’t have any luck the rest of the afternoon either. The mood in class was subdued, as if everyone lacked the energy for anything other than the minimum polite conversation. People stuck to themselves or in pairs. Even Lila lacked the usual knot of students around her in the halls between classes.

Marinette hoped whatever happened was over soon. This type of thing only ever ended one of two ways: Marinette doing something to get the class back on track or Ladybug fighting an akuma. She hoped it wasn’t the latter, but it would help if someone would actually tell her what was going on.

Adrien, true to nature, seemed like he would rather wait it out and pretend it wasn’t happening, and after several failed attempts to interact with Alya (“What? Sorry, Marinette, I’m kind of distracted…”), Marinette gave up and hung out with the only person who didn’t seem to have a cloud over his head.

She was kind of regretting her decision to not tell him she was Ladybug, if only so they could discuss the possibility of an akuma. How was it that now that she knew his identity, she felt farther away from him than ever?

Marinette quickly shook that thought away and joined in on Adrien’s cheerful chatter instead.

Marinette had almost relaxed when, right as they were starting the class of the day, a student nervously knocked on the classroom door frame. “Um, Miss? Mr. Damocles wants to see you and Lila Rossi in his office?”

There was an instant murmur, then a hush as Ms. Bustier looked at the class and said, “Everyone go over the homework with each other until we get back. Lila?”

Marinette frowned at the smug smile on Lila’s face as she packed up her bag. No doubt she had somehow orchestrated a way to get out of school for another three months, or have the auditorium named in her honor, or some other bullshit like that. 

Next to her, Alya muttered, “She’s up to something,” watching Lila leave the room with her forehead creased.

Marinette jumped and whirled around to face her friend. “What?” Since when had Alya been suspicious of Lila?

Alya blinked at her. “Nothing!” she said, a little too quickly. 

Marinette crossed her arms. “What’s going on?” 

Below them, Nino and Adrien turned to join the conversation as the rest of the class started talking to each other.

Alya and Nino exchanged a look, then Alya said, “We decided to talk to Lila about… stuff, and she started saying things about you, girl.”

Marinette sighed. Not this again. “What kind of things?”

“Just… implying that maybe you should have gotten expelled, and when anyone defended you, asking if we thought she was a liar.”

“So, the usual.” Marinette sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Well, I thought that if you weren’t there, Lila couldn’t say that you were brainwashing us or anything.”

“She said that?” Adrien asked, voice low. Marinette glanced at him and saw his eyes narrowed.

“No, not directly, but she’s implied it before…”

“I think the better question here is-” Marinette jumped in, “-when did you start noticing this?”

“I’m so sorry, Marinette.” Alya put down her phone and started to wring her fingers. “We wanted to tell you about it, but we wanted to figure it out on our own, get both sides of the story…” Alya trailed off. “I guess, when you pointed out how Lila was treating Adrien? I wanted to believe it was a misunderstanding, but the way she talks about it... it just doesn’t add up. And the same thing when you got expelled. And then we found out that she’s been lying to our siblings, and we even think she told Chris bad things about you and that’s why he didn’t want to go with you the other day and-”

Nino reached over to put a comforting hand on her shoulder and Alya cut herself off, taking a deep breath.

“Anyway,” she said, turning back to Marinette. “I’m ready to listen to you now.”

Marinette and Adrien exchanged a glance. This… They weren’t prepared for this. This wasn’t what they’d discussed when they talked about Lila yesterday. This was getting out of control.

“Can we talk about it later?” Adrien said, echoing Marinette’s thoughts.

“This isn’t really the best place.” Marinette agreed.

“You’re trying to keep Alya from a scoop?” Nino asked bemusedly.

“This isn’t a scoop. This is whether or not Lila is a big, fat, liar,” Alya corrected forcefully.

“Yeah, is she?” Kim asked, jumping in. 

More voices joined him. 

“Marinette. You’ve been saying that Lila’s been lying since she came back from her trip.”

“Yeah, Marinette said that.”

“What about-”

“Marinette can tell us-”

“Does she know-”

“Why do you think-”

Marinette looked at Adrien, eyes wide with panic. This was definitely not the right time. Everyone was on edge. If they exposed Lila now…

Well, worst case scenario, they wouldn’t believe her.

Worst-worst case scenario, they did and someone got akumatized.

Someone loudly cleared their throat from the front, and the class turned to see the fierce gaze of Ms. Mendeliev.

“I thought this was a classroom, not a zoo,” she said sternly. “Get out your textbooks.”

The class scrambled to pull them out, no one wanting to get on their strict teacher’s bad side. Marinette privately breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe it would blow over. Lila’s lies could be exposed one by one, and no one would get akumatized. Maybe Lila would even realize the game was up and apologize herself.

...A girl could dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marinette/Ladybug and Plagg hardly ever interact in the show but I love their dynamic and I want more. I feel like they’d totally be partners in crime or those friends that constantly bicker lovingly.
> 
> Next up: The results of Lila’s trip to the principal’s office and Tikki’s thoughts on Marinette’s bad decisions.
> 
> Comment and let me know what you think!


	24. Chapter 24

The entire class looked up as the door opened, and Lila shuffled in, head down, followed by a woman who strongly resembled the young girl she was steering by the shoulder. Behind them came Ms. Bustier, who looked slightly pale, and Mr. Damocles, who looked furious.

The class glanced at each other, but no one uttered a word.

_“Hello, come in, come in. Have a seat. Ms. Sancoeur, was it?”_

_“Yes. Thank you.”_

_“Well, I understood this meeting was to be with Mr. Agreste?”_

_“I’m right here.”_

_“Ah! Yes, I see. Welcome, Mr. Agreste.”_

Mr. Damocles cleared his throat. “Class, can I have your attention please?” The announcement was unnecessary. The entire room’s attention, even Ms. Mendeliev’s, was already focused solely on the group standing in front of the teacher’s desk.

_“Let us get straight to the point. I hate to waste time.”_

_“Of course. What is this about?”_

_“I have recently employed a young model named Lila Rossi. I understand she attends this school with my son, Adrien?”_

_“I believe that is correct, yes.”_

_“Well, it has come to my attention that Miss Rossi has been rather forward with my son as of late, and we have reports from several photographers about her unseemly conduct, as well as photographic and video evidence, which Nathalie will forward to you.”_

_“...unseemly conduct?”_

_“Sexual harassment.”_

Mr. Damocles looked to Lila, who was staring at her shoes, as if unable to look up. When she didn’t say anything, Ms. Rossi nudged her.

Lila still didn’t say a word. Ms. Rossi sighed. “ _Lila._ ”

Lila looked up and, meeting the accusing gaze of the class, burst into tears.

_“...That is quite the accusation, Mr. Agreste.”_

_“And I do not make it lightly. I strongly suggest you look into it. Perhaps asking the students if any of them have seen anything. This is completely unacceptable behavior, and this school cannot let it go unpunished.”_

_“Of course, Mr. Agreste.”_

_“I have terminated our contract with Miss Rossi, but work is not the only place they see each other, and I cannot allow this behavior to continue.”_

_“Yes, yes, of course. Just a moment...Mr. Lagarde? Run to Ms. Bustier’s class and tell her I want to see her and Lila Rossi… They should be here momentarily, Mr. Agreste. Is that all?”_

Rose and Sabrina instantly rushed forward to help the sobbing girl, but were stopped by a look from Ms. Mendeliev, who reached over to the desk and handed Lila a few tissues.

“I-it’s not true!” Lila gasped through her sobs. “I-I didn’t… it’s not-” she gasped for breath and seemed, for the first time, to struggle with her words.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Lila,” her mother said. “We saw the pictures. And the videos. And the forged notes and documents and-”

Lila gave up trying to talk as her mother cut herself off in disgust.

Ms Bustier clutched her clipboard in a death grip and said quietly, “Lila has been... expelled from school. She will no longer be a part of our class.”

_“No, not quite. I also discovered, in the process of firing Miss Rossi, that she may have been less than truthful in her application. The details aren’t important, but I strongly suggest you double check her medical records. Make sure they’re authorized and up to date.”_

_“...Yes of course. I’ll have to contact her mother.”_

_“Do make sure you actually reach her.”_

A murmur rippled through the students, and a few glanced over at Marinette as Rose and Sabrina drew back in surprise. “Expelled?” several asked, as if they hadn’t heard correctly. “Why?”

“Yes.” Mr. Damocles told them. “Effective immediately. But before she leaves… Lila?”

_“One last thing.”_

_“You’re leaving already?”_

_“I’m a very busy man, Mr. Damocles.”_

_“Of course. My apologies.”_

Lila took a deep breath, and then another. With one last glance at the adults surrounding her, she said, quietly, “I’m sorry.”

“For what, Lila?” her mother asked, a warning in her tone and the lines of her tired face.

_“Nathalie is sending you a video recorded on the set of one of my photoshoots, of a conversation between Miss Rossi and my son. I suggest you check the security footage of the school from the same date. You’ll recall an innocent student was wrongfully expelled that day. Consider it… an anonymous tip.”_

_“This is… quite the incriminating video. The security footage-”_

_“Should show you everything else you need to know. Thank you for your time. And make sure Miss Rossi is punished appropriately. I think a public apology is in order, as well as any other punishment you see fit.”_

_“I certainly agree, Mr. Agreste.”_

_“Good day.”_

A brief scowl flashed across Lila’s face before it was replaced once again by watery tears. “I’m sorry,” she said louder, though her voice was still convincingly wobbly. “For not being a good enough friend.”

“Lila, I’m not going to ask again.”

“I’m sorry!” Lila burst out, starting to cry in full force again.

The class stayed deathly silent, not sure what to make of the scene.

“I-I’m sorry for not respecting your space, Adrien. I’m sorry for t-taking advantage of your trust. I’m sorry, M-Marinette, for all the trouble I caused you. And I’m sorry for telling everyone the things you wanted to hear. I’m sorry for wanting you to like me!” Lila spat. And with that, she buried her face in her hands and raced out the door, quickly followed by her mother.

Ms. Bustier stared after her, a strange look on her face. “Class dismissed,” she said quietly.

_“Nathalie. Did you remember to leak the evidence we agreed on?”_

_“Of course, Mr. Agreste.”_

_"Good."_

* * *

4:42  
**Alix:** What the hell?  
**Kim:** What was that all about?  
**Alya:** Isn’t it obvious? Lila obviously was lying to us.  
**Myléne:** Yeah, but about what? She didn’t exactly tell us what she was apologizing for.  
**Alya:** Pierre Lagarde from Mendeliev’s homeroom says that Lila didn’t actually have any serious medical conditions!!!  
**Alya:** No tinnitus, no arthritis, no throat surgery, nothing  
**Kim:** But why would she lie to us about that?  
**Alya:** So we would carry her things and help her with her homework, obviously.  
**Alya:** And so she could sit next to Adrien  
**Alya:** I hope she’s getting charged with harassment

Marinette scrolled through the group chat as it blew up with notifications, then sighed and put her phone down on the bed next to her. This day had started out so well. Leave it to Lila to screw it up. She would be texting Adrien about all this, but he was at fencing practice and probably wouldn’t look at his messages for a couple hours.

She rolled onto her back, hugging a pillow to her chest. She’d always thought that the day Lila got exposed for the liar she was would be a happy day. There would be a few “oh no!”s, a few sincere apologies, maybe some begging and groveling, then Lila would be cast out of her life forever and everything would go back to normal.

Ha. If only.

“This is exhausting, Tikki,” she said. Everyone wanted answers, and for some reason, Alya seemed to be the one to have them so far. Marinette had to give her best friend credit. She had mad journalist skills. “But at least they’re figuring out all of Lila’s lies.” Even if it had been better if they had listened to her in the first place.

“What about _your_ lies?” Tikki asked from somewhere out of Marinette’s line of sight.

“My lies?” Marinette twisted, trying to find her kwami. Where had that come from? “What, I should tell everyone that I’m Ladybug?” Somehow she thought that they didn’t seem in the best state of mind for that sort of reveal.

“Not _everyone_. But what about Adrien? I thought you were going to at least tell him.”

Marinette gave up and lay still once more. Oh. So that was what this was about. Marinette had almost forgotten about her decision to keep her secret with all the other drama.

“You know that’s dangerous, Tikki! What if Hawkmoth found out that Adrien knew my identity? Or what if we start dating and if he knows I’m Ladybug then we’ll be dating as Ladybug and Chat Noir too and Hawkmoth can use that against us!” Marinette hugged her pillow tighter to her chest, imagining all the terrible possibilities. “Master Fu was right about us keeping our identities secret. The fact that we know each other in real life makes it so much more complicated!” Marinette groaned and buried her face in her pillow.

“Really, Marinette?” Tikki asked.

Ignoring her, Marinette sighed and picked up her phone again.

**Nathanael:** How was she able to skip so much school if she wasn’t actually out of town?  
**Alya:** Forged documents and clever skyping. Only one who suspected was Marinette.  
**Nino:** How does Pierre know all this?  
**Alya:** He went to get a few people for Damocles and they just kind of forgot he was there, listening.  
**Alya:** oh my god  
**Alya:**

[video attachment]  
 **Kim:** Is that security footage?  
 **Max:** Of Lila quite obviously pretending to have fallen down the stairs  
 **Marinette:** she told Damocles I pushed her  
 **Alya:** she did WHAT  
 **Alya:** Why didn’t you tell me?  
 **Marinette:** there wasn’t a good time because, um, I got EXPELLED right after  
 **Marinette:** and would you have believed me?  
 **Alya:** Yes  
 **Alya:** That fucking bitch!  
 **Max:** How did you get reinstated if the teachers believed Lila?  
 **Marinette:** she told the principal she had a rare disease that made her lie sometimes.  
 **Alix:** And he fell for that?!  
 **Marinette:** you tell me  
 **Sabrina:** Why did she even say that in the first place?  
 **Alya:** Um, because she’s a big fat LIAR  
 **Sabrina:** No, I mean, why bother lying to get you back in school? It did nothing for her.

That was something Marinette had often wondered about since, and had come up with nothing.

**Marinette:** idk  
 **Marinette:** it just happened and I sure as hell wasn’t going to question it

She stared at the screen of her phone, watching new messages come in. She felt terrible, for some reason.

“Marinette,” Tikki said after a quiet moment. “I know you’re still feeling guilty-”

“Guilty?” Marinette sat up on her bed. “You think that’s what this is about?” She laughed incredulously. “I’m not feeling guilty. Well, I am, but this has nothing to do with that.”

Tikki sighed. “Marinette, I _know_ you. And I know Master Fu. And I’ve known every Guardian since the beginning of time. It is not a good idea to make decisions because of guilt.”

“I’m not. I’m just following the rules.”

“But you’re the Guardian now. The rules are different for you. You have to do what’s best for the miraculous.”

“And I am! Keeping my identity a secret is protecting the miraculous!” her arguments were getting weaker, she knew it, but she pressed forward. “Other people being associated with Ladybug has never gone over well. I don’t think I need to remind you of that.”

Tikki came and rested in Marinette’s lap. “It’s ultimately up to you. But Ladybug and Chat Noir are supposed to be each other’s balance. Creation and Destruction. You were going to have to know each other’s identities at some point. Why not now?”

Marinette stared at her. Why not now? There were a million reasons! What happened to the Tikki who was insisting she be careful with anything having to do with her superhero identity? What happened to the Tikki who told her that Chat Noir was no exception to the rule.

Except if Tikki was to be believed… _she_ was now the exception to the rule.

“Just… please, Marinette. Learn from your mistakes. Don’t let them hold you back, or you might end up losing Chat Noir for good.”

Lose Chat Noir? But she was closer than she’d ever been-

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Tikki said quietly, looking away. 

A shiver ran down Marinette’s back. Was she talking about past superheroes? Tikki was normally so positive, no matter how bad the situation had gotten. Advice like this…

Well, Marinette thought she better take it seriously.

Giving Tikki a moment to collect herself, Marinette looked at her phone again. She’d missed a lot. 

**Rose:** I can’t believe it! We were so nice to her!  
 **Myléne:** Did she think we wouldn’t be friends with her if she didn’t lie to us?  
 **Juleka:** So not cool.  
 **Alix:** She totally used us!  
 **Sabrina:** No one even told us what happened. We had to find out through Pierre.   
**Alya:** What’s stopping her from lying to other people? They deserve to know.

And on and on. So much anger. All because of secrets and lies. Was Tikki right? Would her secret damage her relationship with Chat Noir? With Adrien? At least before, both of them were keeping things from each other. Now…

Marinette looked at Tikki. “Okay. I’m going to tell him.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” She paused as the full realization of her words hit her. “Oh man, he’s going to be so mad.”

“No, he won’t.” Tikki spun in the air excitedly. “I’m so glad, Marinette!”

Marinette giggled at her kwami and checked the time. Adrien would probably still be fencing. Oh, well. She’d tell him as soon as she saw him in person. Opening the chat, she scrolled quickly through all her unread messages to the most recent ones.

**Nino:** At least we know what’s up now.  
 **Marinette:** And if she hadn’t been found out today?  
 **Marinette:** How much longer would it have gone on?  
 **Max:** Well, we know now. The probability of it happening again is close to 0%.  
 **Kim:** What’s the probability of you losing an eye because of a napkin  
 **Max:**...  
 **Max:** I’m not the only one who fell for that!  
 **Kim:** Fair  
 **Nino:** Where are the girls? They’re not on the app anymore and Alya’s not picking up.   
**Nino:** She always picks up.  
 **Marinette:** I’m right here.  
...  
 **Nathanael:** Is that it?  
 **Nino:** They all seemed pretty upset. Maybe we should go check on them.  
 **Nathanael:** Does anyone know where they are?  
 **Max:** I believe Ivan and Myléne are at the park together.

“Oh no…” Marinette breathed. She looked over at Tikki, who was hovering over her shoulder, reading her messages with her. “Do you think…”

“The boys seemed pretty worried. I think you should transform. Just in case.”

Marinette looked down at her screen and swallowed hard. “I think you’re right.”

* * *

Adrien didn’t realize there was an akuma attack happening until Ladybug dropped into his fencing class.

Quite literally.

Swinging down, fencers scattered as Ladybug landed in the middle of the courtyard where practice was held and announced, “There’s an akuma nearby. Everyone go hide! Quick!”

As soon as the first students took off, Ladybug yanked on her yoyo and was gone, back the way she came.

Adrien immediately turned and bolted for the locker rooms, where Plagg holed up during his fencing lessons.

Once glance at his phone, and Adrien thought he just might have an idea of who had been akumatized. 

Soon, Chat Noir was vaulting over the rooftops in the direction Ladybug had gone. It didn’t take him long to find her, mid-battle with a red supervillain and surrounded by fumes. Poor Rose. Of course she would have taken Lila’s betrayal the hardest. 

He started to make his way over, ready to jump into the battle, but as soon as she saw him coming Ladybug frantically waved him away, the other hand clamped over her nose to avoid inhaling the perfume.

Chat Noir paused, confused.

Ladybug dodged as Princess Fragrance took advantage of her distraction and dove towards Ladybug, reaching for her earrings. Ladybug grabbed her wrist and flung her away, then pointed Chat to the right, where to his horror, he turned to see Reflekta a few blocks away, jumping from rooftop to rooftop and roaring, “LILA ROSSI!”

Damn it. Of course there were two. He should have realized as soon as he saw that Princess Fragrance was red rather than her original pink and green. At least neither of them were after him, this time. Probably.

Leaving Ladybug to take care of Princess Fragrance, Chat ran after Reflekta, hoping to sneak up on her. For once, luck was on his side, and he managed to tackle the supervillain before she noticed him, amid several loud shrieks of rage.

Pinning her to the ground and sending a silent apology to Juleka, he tried to wrench her arm out from under her thrashing body so he could get to her bracelet. He should probably wait for Ladybug though, before breaking it.

Reflekta grunted and twisted suddenly, throwing Chat partly off her body. He was about to lunge for her again when his body froze against his will.

“Not so fast, kitty cat.”

Chat Noir’s heart sank. Not Lady Wifi, too. How many were there?

Maybe this was all of them. After all, they had Princess Fragrance, Lady Wifi, and Reflekta. Those were the three that had been akumatized when Felix impersonated Adrien. This was kind of a similar situation, right?

Then again, that time hadn’t involved Scarlet Moth.

He had bigger problems to worry about, though. Reflekta was still partly trapped underneath him, but she was now facing him with her arms and shoulders free. She reached for his ring, horribly exposed on his frozen hand.

“Who is Chat Noir underneath the mask?” Lady Wifi said, still out of his line of sight. “Not the scoop I was looking for today, but it’s a nice bonus.”

“I have another bonus for you!”

Chat Noir’s spirits leapt as the familiar voice sounded and Ladybug’s yoyo zipped past, knocking Reflekta’s hand away from Chat Noir’s just in time and smashing her bracelet. The yoyo retracted and then reappeared in the next moment, snatching the butterfly out of the air. 

Lady Wifi yelled, and a hand gripped Chat’s shoulder hard before it was yanked away with another zing of the yoyo. There were sounds of fighting, and Ladybug and Lady Wifi rounded the rooftop to emerge in Chat’s periphery, throwing punches.

He strained to see what was going on, cursing his current position. He was so vulnerable. Completely reliant on Ladybug to protect him. Not that that was unusual, but normally he wasn’t aware of what happened between him getting hit and Ladybug bringing him back. Now he was realizing just how close a call it had been. How was Ladybug supposed to protect his miraculous and capture two (one?) more akumas?

Juleka was now blinking up at him, looking confused as to why she was awkwardly pinned under a Chat Noir statue. Though his face couldn’t move, he winced internally. 

Ladybug ducked and threw Lady Wifi over her shoulder, launching her across the roof in one quick motion while she snatched her phone. While Lady Wifi scrambled to stop her skid, Ladybug frantically tapped at the device.

“Ugh! It’s not responding to me! Oh, wait-” she tapped, and suddenly Chat could move again. 

He immediately leaped off of Juleka and helped her to her feet. “Thanks, bug.”

“No problem.”

There was a cry, and he turned to see that Lady Wifi had regained her phone from Ladybug and was shooting at them again. He knocked Juleka to the side ( _Sorry again, Juleka_ ) and then yanked her back. “Why didn’t you break the phone? You had it!”

“That wouldn’t have freed you! I had to cut off the internet first!” Ladybug ran towards the edge of the roof-away from Lady Wifi-and Chat followed, tugging his poor classmate with him by the wrist. To her credit, Juleka followed easily. Not much seemed to faze her, even waking up in the heat of an akuma battle.

Or jumping off a roof, apparently.

Chat followed Ladybug as they ducked into an alley and down through a manhole, Juleka in tow. Ladybug slowed to catch her breath, leaning against the wall.

“Did you get Her Smelly Highness?”

“No,” Ladybug shook her head tiredly. “Just held her up a bit. She’s probably looking for us right now.” She knocked her head against the wall in frustration.

“Amazing!” Juleka breathed suddenly. “That was amazing!”

“That _was_ amazing,” Chat agreed, hoping to lift his partner’s spirits a bit. “Ladybug never fails to impress.”

Ladybug smiled, the light making her cheeks look pinker than usual, but it faded sooner than Chat would have liked. “Okay,” she said, pushing herself away from the wall. “One down, three to go. Are you alright, Juleka?”

“Three?” Chat Noir asked as Juleka nodded. “Who else?”

“Horrificator.” Ladybug sighed, looking up towards the street. “Once again, Scarlet Moth strikes us completely unprepared.”

“So what?” Chat asked, careful not to betray his worry. That was the last thing Ladybug needed. “What’s a couple of supervillains to the best superhero duo in the world? We’ve got this.”

Ladybug looked up at him gratefully. “I hope you’re right.”

The three teenagers spent the next few minutes walking through the sewer tunnels of Paris in silence. It would have been a perfect time to tell Ladybug that Marinette had figured him out and beg for her forgiveness, but that wasn’t exactly something he could do with Juleka still with them. 

Ladybug was being unusually quiet, brow furrowed as she muttered to herself. Chat hoped she was figuring out a plan, because he had nothing. Normally he would have filled the silence with playful chatter, but Ladybug did not seem in the mood. Best not to bother her.

So instead, he turned to Juleka and asked, “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened?”

Ladybug turned and looked at him as if she hadn’t been expecting him to ask that, though Chat didn’t know why it was an unusual question. Ladybug didn’t know that he already had a good idea... 

Chat wondered if she knew that Lila had been exposed yet. How would Ladybug feel about that? There was no love lost between the two.

Juleka, in her normal fashion, mumbled something too quiet for Chat to make out, except for “Lila Rossi”. 

“Ugh, Lila,” Ladybug grumbled. “Her lies finally come crumbling down, and yet she still manages to make my life difficult.”

Chat snorted and Juleka cracked a small smile, though Ladybug probably hadn’t meant it as a joke. Seeing his partner’s scowl, he quickly moved on. “We should get Juleka back up to the street, at least.” He pulled out his baton, trying to figure out where, exactly, they were. “It looks like we’re right by-”

Suddenly realizing that the girls were no longer with him, he turned. “Ladybug?”

She had paused and was gazing down a tunnel that went in the other direction. Beside her, Juleka whispered, “Super awesome.”

Chat moved to join them and soon saw what they did. Scarlet goo, splattered on the wall of the tunnel, almost obscured by the shadows cast by the bad lighting. He looked to Ladybug. “Well, that’s a sticky situation. Should we split up?”

She bit her lip in thought. “Let’s stay together, for now,” she decided. Chat didn’t blame her. Splitting up had just led them into a very close call. And the dark sewers of Paris were pretty creepy. “One thing at a time, until we have a plan.” Turning away from the tunnel, she asked them, “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for some fresh air.”

She made her way to the nearest manhole cover, peeking around before opening it up and climbing out. Juleka followed, and Chat came last, replacing the cover once he was through. 

“Perfect,” Ladybug breathed, and she darted across the street towards a park. Chat followed with Juleka, wondering what crazy plan she had in mind this time.

But when they drew close, Chat saw a knot of very familiar teenagers surrounding a bench.

“Ladybug! You’re back!” Nino said in obvious relief as his classmates shifted to let the three newcomers into the group. Looking around, Chat saw Nino, Kim, Max, Nathanael, and Alix, who was lounging on the one part of the bench that wasn’t covered in red goop. “And Juleka! You’re all okay, thank God.”

“Did you find Myléne?” Max asked.

“Not yet,” Ladybug told him. “But we think we know where she is.” She looked to the ground. Following her gaze, Chat saw a shoe that was too big to belong to anyone other than Ivan, half trapped under the goo. He gulped and looked away, wondering how long Ivan had been gone. How much had he missed while he was fencing?

“What about Alya?” Nino asked, fidgeting with his cap.

Ladybug put a hand on his shoulder. “She’s... also been akumatized, like you thought. Same with Rose and Juleka, though Juleka’s fine now.”

“What about Marinette?” Nathanael asked. “She hasn’t been picking up, either.”

“Marinette’s fine,” Ladybug said quickly. Chat breathed a private sigh of relief. “I checked on her, just in case.”

“Where is she?” Alix asked.

Ladybug rubbed the back of her neck, glancing sidelong at Chat Noir. “She went to find Adrien.”

Chat blinked. Marinette had probably realized he was stuck at fencing and went to tell him about the akumas, but Ladybug had inadvertently gotten there first. He appreciated it, but he’d have to talk to her later about staying put when there were akumas on the loose. He hoped she was okay. 

Speaking of, he had to tell Ladybug that Marinette now knew not only her identity, but his as well. He grimaced, thinking about that conversation.

“She’s okay, though, right?” he double-checked, needing to make sure.

“Perfectly fine.” Ladybug assured him, with a twinkle in her eye that suggested that she had not forgotten about his crush on her. “She’s mostly worried about her friends.”

“We all are,” Kim said, the usual bravado gone from his voice, and the other kids murmured their agreement.

“Don’t worry, guys,” Chat Noir promised them all. “We’ll bring everyone back safe and sound.”

“Stay out of danger,” Ladybug added. “We’ll be back soon.” She unhooked her yoyo, then started in surprise. “Oh! Before I forget-” she tapped it, and the yoyo unfolded to release Reflekta’s akuma, now just a harmless butterfly. “Bye-bye, little butterfly.”

The class cheered as they watched it flap up and away.

Ladybug nodded at Chat Noir, and they both launched themselves back to the rooftops.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is really how Lila will get exposed. Gabriel turns on her when she’s no longer useful and exposes her to further his own evil plans. Either that or Lila eventually usurps him. Girl is terrifying in the fact that she is literally allying with Hawkmoth, grabbing akumas not meant for her, over a petty grudge. Damn, girl, chill. Anyway, the lack of any sort of morals is terrifying, because we have no idea where or if Lila draws the line somewhere. 
> 
> Also, forced apologies are the stupidest things ever. Don't make 'em do it if it's not gonna be sincere.
> 
> Comment and let me know what you think!


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Mentions and light descriptions of old bones. Nothing too bad, most of it is implied.
> 
> Disclaimer: I didn’t do particularly extensive research on the catacombs of Paris for this chapter, nor have I ever been there. Most of this is what I remember from books I’ve read either about it or that were set there, so please forgive me if there are mistakes on that front, and go ahead and comment with any feedback you have.

“So, what’s the plan?” Chat asked as he crouched next to Ladybug, the two of them hidden behind a rooftop chimney.

Ladybug opened her yoyo and pulled up a news broadcast. “I’m working on it.” 

They watched as Nadja Chamack showed footage of Princess Fragrance, sweeping overhead with her perfume bottle and leaving a trail of red fumes in her wake that quickly dissipated.

“So we have three supervillains left.” Ladybug murmured, flipping through several different broadcasts, each showing a different spot in Paris that the supervillains had hit. “As far as I can tell, Princess Fragrance and Lady Wifi are trying to get our miraculous, while Reflekta and Horrificator went after Lila.” She turned to show him the screen. “The Louvre, the school, the Eiffel Tower, the police station- they’re all shut down for an akuma attack.”

“They’re spreading out.” Chat noted. “How are we going to track down all of them?”

“We’re going to have to get them all together somehow.” Ladybug said, scrolling through her yoyo again. “They’ll probably all gather wherever Lila is.”

“Have they found her yet?” Chat asked.

“I can’t tell. I found Princess Fragrance, Reflekta, and Wifi at Lila’s house, but she wasn’t there, so I don’t think they had her then. But they might have found her since.” Ladybug tapped the yoyo against her leg absently. “Problem is, I have no idea where she could be if she wasn’t at home.”

Chat Noir considered that. “It seems like our best best is to go back down to where we found the goo. Last time we fought Horrificator, she had a - a sort of den, that she put prisoners in.”

“That’s right, I remember,” Ladybug agreed. “If we find that, then we either find Lila-”

“Or we know where they’ll take her when they do find her.” Chat finished.

“Sounds like a plan,” Ladybug said. They both stood and hopped down from the roof, searching for the nearest manhole.

It didn’t take long before they were back in the sewers, and with the help of the map on Chat’s baton, they made their way through the tunnels at a run, moving much faster now that it was just the two of them. 

“So,” Chat started, keeping pace with Ladybug. “I’ve got something to tell you.”

“Can it wait?” Ladybug asked, taking a left. “We’re kind of busy here, if you hadn’t noticed.”

“It’s really important,” Chat insisted, though part of his brain wanted to take the excuse to stall a little longer. “And what better time than now? It could distract you from the awful smell.”

The tunnels around them were changing. Chat Noir thought that must mean that they were leaving the sewers.

“I’m sure you’ll find a time,” Ladybug said offhandedly. “Slow down a bit, it gets cramped up ahead.”

Sure enough, the tunnel narrowed and Chat dropped back to walk behind Ladybug, twisting awkwardly to avoid various spiderwebs. He hardly noticed though, slightly annoyed at Ladybug’s tone. Sure, she was probably really stressed right now. They had _three_ supervillains to defeat, after all, and Chat wasn’t the one who had to figure out how to capture their akumas. He’d tried that before, and he was definitely not cut out. 

They were also currently making their way through a dark, musty tunnel that was filled with who knows what.

Actually, Chat Noir did know what, thanks to Nathalie’s history classes, but he was trying very hard not to think about it. 

Even as something crunched underneath his boot, and he and Ladybug winced in unison.

So, he got it. She was under a lot of pressure right now, and probably didn’t need something else to worry about right now. But this was _important_. Even by Ladybug’s standards. So he pressed on. “It’s just, we’re not doing anything right this second, so I figure now’s as good of a time as any.”

“Can it wait until patrol?” Ladybug asked, still not looking at him.

“Um…” It probably could, but he was sure that Ladybug would berate him for not telling her sooner if she did.

“Oh God,” Ladybug said suddenly, stopping in her tracks as the tunnel widened again and almost making Chat Noir bump into her.

He stopped just in time and peered over her shoulder to see what she was looking at, and sucked in a breath himself. Lining the walls of the tunnel in front of them were human bones, yellowed with age, stretching ahead of them until the tunnel took a sharp turn.

He wondered how much of it Ladybug could see, since she didn’t have night vision like he did.

Enough, apparently, because she reached an arm behind her and took Chat’s hand. Chat Noir didn’t say anything, but gave her a reassuring squeeze. He knew how she felt. They were superheroes, but this wasn’t dangerous. This was… a little creepy. And a little sad. And a _lot_ unsettling.

Ladybug only hesitated slightly before continuing on through the tunnel, tugging Chat Noir behind her. He followed their joined hands, content to be her support while she led the way. 

Just like it always was. Just like it always would be.

“If it gets much darker, I’m not going to be able to see,” Ladybug said quietly.

“This is really bad lighting,” Chat Noir said, though he could see fine. “You can use your yoyo if you need to-”

“-but it will give us away, I know,” Ladybug sighed.

“Speaking of giving ourselves away-” Chat Noir hesitated only a split second, knowing he needed to say it now before Ladybug brushed him off again. “-Marinette knows my identity.” He held his breath, waiting for Ladybug to whip toward him and demand to know everything.

“Okay.”

 _Okay?_ That was it? “I’m sure we don’t have anything to worry about,” he said, echoing what he’d told her the day Marinette had found out Ladybug’s identity. “She can keep a secret. And who knows? It could be useful for her to know. I’m sure she can help us… she’s great like that.”

Ladybug ducked her head slightly. “It’s… she’s not… you shouldn’t idolize Marinette like that, kitty.”

Chat Noir furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”

Ladybug sighed, and her grip tightened on his hand. “Just that… Marinette isn’t perfect. None of us are.”

“Marinette is,” Chat Noir said immediately, with complete confidence. Ladybug didn’t know his princess like he did.

“No, she’s really not,” Ladybug told him. “You know, it was partly her fault that her friends got akumatized-”

“How?” Chat demanded, stopping in his tracks, forcing Ladybug to stop and face him. “I don’t see how you can possibly blame this on anyone but Lila.”

“She told me herself,” Ladybug said, tilting her chin up and meeting his gaze defiantly. “She says she felt bad about what she said on their class group chat. She thinks she riled the girls up. Stoked their anger.”

Marinette felt that way? “Marinette has every right to complain about Lila,” he told Ladybug stubbornly. “She was bullied and targeted.”

Ladybug looked down, the fire suddenly gone from her eyes. “We shouldn’t be talking about this right now,” she said.

“Aren’t you the one always telling me that we have the right to feel the way we do? That we don’t always have to suppress our emotions for other people’s sake?” Come to think of it, Marinette had told him that before, too, or something similar. He hated that she now felt guilty for taking her own advice. Because he was starting to realize that she was right.

Ladybug didn’t even turn her head, instead turning and pulling him farther down the tunnel. “Can we... talk about it later? We have a job to do.”

Chat frowned, the first hints of anger flaring up in his chest, even as he continued down the tunnel with his partner.

Ladybug had always been curious about him. Ladybug had always looked at him when he talked. Ladybug had always _listened_ to him, which was more than he could say about some of the people in his life.

She wasn’t listening to him now. She was brushing him off, telling him “later”, and it hit a raw nerve somewhere inside him.

Chat Noir’s temper, which rarely reared its head, was stirring and he struggled to keep it at bay. Ladybug was right. They could have this conversation later. This was his _partner_ , and they were about to confront multiple supervillains. They couldn’t do that while he was mad at her.

Part of him didn’t care, as he yanked his hand from hers.

* * *

_“They’re coming.”_

The warning was unnecessary, as Hawkmoth could hear the voices echoing down the tunnel as well as she could.

“Don’t give yourself away,” he warned her. “The others aren’t back yet.”

The supervillain obediently stayed quiet, body obscured by shadows in an offshoot of the tunnel as Ladybug and Chat Noir drew closer. As their voices became louder and they entered his akuma’s sight, Hawkmoth started, realizing that the two heroes were… _arguing._

“Excuse me,” Chat snapped. “I’m trying to talk to you.”

“Chat Noir?” Ladybug looked at him in surprise. She, at least, had the sense to keep her voice down, though Hawkmoth could still hear every word.

“This is important, and I’m sorry, but I don’t know why you don’t think it’s something we need to talk about!” Chat stopped walking, and Hawkmoth tensed, worried his supervillain would be discovered by the cat’s sharp eyes, but curious as to why the superheroes were fighting.

Was their partnership finally cracking?

Ladybug waved her hands in front of her. “That’s not it! It’s the exact opposite.” She looked up at Chat Noir with big pleading eyes. “This is bigger than you think it is.”

Chat crossed his arms and looked down at her, green eyes flashing dangerously. “And since when have you known more about this than me?”

“I-” the girl fell silent.

“You _what_?” Chat prompted angrily.

“I… shouldn’t have said anything.”

Hawkmoth could see, even in the dim light, Chat’s fingers flex and his jaw clench. “Really, bug? Again?”

“What?” Ladybug asked, obviously as confused as Hawkmoth was.

“I thought we were past this! I don’t know why you don’t trust me, but… fine. Just fine.” Chat Noir pushed past Ladybug and stalked down the tunnel, towards the cavern entryway.

“Chat-” 

“I said fine!”

 _Fascinating._ So Ladybug had a history of keeping secrets from her partner. And Chat Noir obviously wasn’t happy about it. Something he could exploit later.

Hawkmoth watched as Ladybug stilled. She wiped her eyes hurriedly, then ran to catch up with Chat Noir.

Yes, he could use this, he thought as he called the rest of the superheroes toward the cavern. He already had something in mind.

He had Ladybug and Chat Noir right where he wanted them.

* * *

Ladybug knew she should have listened to Tikki. This was exactly what she warned would happen. 

But it was a thousand times worse than Ladybug had imagined.

Wiping her eyes before the tears could spill over, Ladybug stumbled forward, following the sound of Chat’s boots as they echoed down the tunnel. Turning a corner, she found to her dismay that the next leg of the tunnel had next to no lighting. 

“Chat?” she said hesitantly, unsure where her partner was.

He didn’t respond. 

Ladybug started to panic, worried that something had happened to him, and she moved blindly forward through the inky darkness, one hand stretched outward, the other gripping her yoyo, hoping that she wouldn’t run into a crazy supervillain. Or a dead body.

Her gloved hand met leather. An arm, one that wrenched away from her as soon as Chat Noir felt her touch.

Ladybug swallowed hard. So he was giving her the silent treatment. Here she was, worried that he’d been taken or that he had abandoned her, and he was just being petty.

The anger loosened the lump in her throat.

She crossed her arms and glared in what she thought was his general direction.

There was silence for a moment, and then Chat said, “Well?”

“Well, what?” Ladybug huffed, glad her voice was holding steady.

“Well, we’re here.” 

They were? 

“Aren’t you going to lead the way, fearsome leader?” The sarcasm in his voice almost brought back Ladybug’s tears. Why was he being so mean?

She had to tell him. As soon as they were out of this mess. It didn’t matter if he got mad at her. It couldn’t be any worse than it was now.

“We’re partners.” Ladybug said flatly. “And in case you hadn’t noticed, I can’t see anything. It’s too dark.”

There was a beat. “Oh,” Chat said, his low voice unreadable. There was a light touch on her shoulder, then Chat slipped his hand down Ladybug’s bicep before looping around her elbow and curling his fingers around her wrist.

It wasn’t her hand. But it was close enough.

Chat tugged Ladybug forward, and they fell in step. Together.

Just like it always was. Just like it always would be.

Ladybug thought she felt the gloom lessen slightly, and then had the sudden sense that the walls had opened up around her. She wasn’t sure how she knew - maybe the sound of their footsteps echoed differently, or there was a change in air pressure. All she knew was that they were in a much wider space than the musty tunnels.

Chat Noir led her around a corner, and then Ladybug could see again, though only barely.

“There,” Chat Noir murmured, increasing his speed. Ladybug followed, and as they moved further into the cavern, shapes began to form as Ladybug’s eyes adjusted to the small bit of light.

They were in a huge cavern, and the forms Chat Noir was leading her to took shape as mounds of goo, larger than they had been the first time they’d fought Horrificator. Ladybug broke away from Chat Noir and ran towards the nearest one.

“Hello?” she called softly.

“Who’s there?” a suspicious voice asked from off to the right. “Ladybug?”

Ladybug matched the voice’s disgust. “Lila.”

Turning, she saw the girl trapped in her own personal mound of goo, though Horrificator had left her head and upper torso free. Ladybug didn’t really want to know what for.

“Ladybug! Where have you been?” Lila squirmed as Ladybug put a hand against the goo, trying to see if there was any way to break her free. “That awful villain just ran up and grabbed me- I don’t know what I did-”

“Cut the crap, Lila,” Ladybug said, turning to a different mound and pounding on it with her fists. “Is anyone in there?”

Chat Noir, ever the patient one, was examining another mound and carefully not looking at Lila.

If someone responded, she couldn’t hear them over Lila’s gasp.

“But I’m telling the truth! Why aren’t you listening to me? I think Marinette must have told everyone-”

“Whatever happened here, it’s your fault, not Marinette’s,” Ladybug snapped. “The game is over. No one’s playing anymore, so you can just sit there and _be quiet_ so I can figure out how to get you out of there.” She turned to Chat Noir, who was watching her with an unreadable expression. “Cataclysm?”

He hesitated, glancing at Lila, before leaning in to tell Ladybug quietly, “I can hear people in there. Ivan and a few others.”

“We shouldn’t risk it then,” Ladybug decided, silently blessing his enhanced hearing.

“Are you serious?” Lila said loudly. “How useless are you? You were _supposed_ to be protecting me, but you failed at that, and now you can’t even save me?”

Ladybug scowled. Without the mask of lies, Lila was starting to sound eerily like Chloe.

“Looks like you’re just going to have to wait until after we defeat the supervillains. Lucky Charm!”

“A video camera?” Chat Noir asked skeptically as it fell into her outstretched hands.

“Um…”

“Going to film your defeat, Ladybug? And here I was, thinking that was _my_ job.” Ladybug’s hand went to her yoyo as she and Chat Noir whipped around to find the source of the dark laughter that echoed through the cavern. Lady Wifi swooped above them, and Ladybug started to spin her yoyo. “It will make a nice addition to your biography, I’m sure. Or maybe… your obituary?”

Somehow having your life threatened came across very differently in your best friend’s voice, even if she was currently evil.

Ladybug couldn’t reflect on it for long, though, because just then, Princess Fragrance emerged from the entryway, Horrificator following close behind and sealing the opening behind her with a roar and a splatter of red goo.

“Uh oh,” Chat muttered. “Any ideas, LB?”

Ladybug frantically looked around the cavern, but nothing caught her eye, other than the clothespin on Lady Wifi’s nose. 

Ladybug realized what that meant just as Princess Fragrance lifted her perfume bottle and started twirling around, releasing streams of red fumes that drifted to the floor and spread, slowly but surely, around her feet.

The room they were in was very large, but sooner or later it would fill up completely.

“Even Ladybugs have to breathe at some point,” Lady Wifi called to them triumphantly. “Let’s see how long you last, shall we?”

Ladybug looked to Chat Noir, only to see that he was already looking at her, green eyes glowing faintly in the dim light, waiting for some indication of what to do. “I don’t know,” she said helplessly, a quiet answer to his silent question. “I don’t know what to do.” 

Maybe this was the one problem she couldn’t figure out. She was bound to get there eventually, right? Three supervillains, two superheroes, and a super-liar, all shut in a room together. Who wins?

The supervillains, with their bigger numbers and traps and powers and _togetherness_?

Or the superheroes, who were cornered, on a timer, and currently barely speaking to each other? Yet another thing she'd failed at. Another person she'd let down. 

It was happening again.

_“I chose you for a reason. Stay united!”_

Ladybug looked down at the lucky charm in her hands as Master Fu’s voice echoed in her mind.

“Hey,” Chat said, voice low, urging Ladybug to look back at him. “Us against the world,” he said, as if he was thinking about the same thing.

It wasn’t the best situation to be in. There wasn’t time for an explanation or an apology. But it was an olive branch, extended in the way his eyes looked into hers. In the way his body tensed, ready to spring into action, to buy Ladybug time. She remembered that day, Master Fu’s voice being replaced by Chat Noir’s.

_“Ladybug and I never fight each other. We fight together!”_

She wouldn’t let it happen again. This day was not going to be another regret.

Ladybug nodded at Chat Noir, once, attaching the video camera to her hip, for now. 

No matter what happened, Chat Noir was who she wanted by her side. Adrien was who she wanted by her side. 

They sprang into action at the same time, in a twirl of red and black, the spin of a stick and the twang of a wire. Fighting side by side.  
Just as it always was. Just as it always would be.

No matter what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: Ladynoir holding hands yessss  
> Also me: Ladynoir holding hands and _fighting_ let’s go it’s time to break my own heart  
> Can you tell I watched the New York Special again? It makes me want to cry...
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated! Let me know what you think!


	26. Chapter 26

The fight was not going well.

Things went wrong as soon as Ladybug and Chat Noir tried attacking the three supervillains that were charging at them. Ladybug’s yoyo somehow caught around Chat’s arm, and he stumbled, narrowly avoiding a stream of goo from Horrificator. Something knocked into the back of Ladybug’s knees just as Lady Wifi shot at her, and she had to tuck and roll to avoid the pause button, only for Chat to crash into her as soon as she was back on her feet.

“Watch it!” They both snapped.

It was difficult to see in the dim lighting of the cavern, and the reddish haze wafting from the growing cloud of perfume wasn’t helping, either. The tunnel they were trapped in was large, but sooner or later the cloud would rise over their heads, and then they’d be in real trouble. 

They had to do something fast.

Ducking as Princess Fragrance swooped at her, Ladybug snagged her ankle with her yoyo and yanked, backing up to drag the thrashing supervillain towards her, only to trip over Chat’s boot. She yelped and tumbled gracelessly to the ground, letting Princess Fragrance escape. 

“Ladybug?” Chat Noir’s voice sounded tinny and far away.

Ladybug squinted through the haze as she stood, careful not to breathe in any of the fog that had risen to her waist. Surely Chat Noir wasn’t as far away as he sounded. She’d just tripped over him. The fog was probably making the sound echo strangely. She’d have to remember that. “I’m fine,” she said in response, twirling her yoyo in front of her to deflect a fresh stream of goo. It also swirled the perfume around her a little, but that wouldn’t help much once the entire room was filled.

It was dark enough now that the flashes of light from Lady Wifi’s phone were starting to make Ladybug’s head pound as the room would light up and then plunge again into darkness. Ladybug ignored it though, charging forward and flinging out her yoyo to snag Horrificator.

“Hey!” a voice yelped.

Ladybug stuttered to a stop, pulling the wire back before dodging a flash of light from Lady Wifi. “Sorry! I thought you were behind me?” She must have gotten turned around.

Chat spun his baton, deflecting goo shot from Horrificator. “Well, I’m not.”

They spun around, back to back as they continued to weave and dodge attacks, trying to get close enough to snatch someone’s akuma. But it was impossible for Ladybug to concentrate on one villain before she’d have to abandon her attack to defend herself from something else.

She tried to stop her mounting frustration as she and Chat circled. They were fighting, yes, but it just wasn’t _clicking_. Chat kept getting in her way, or knocking into her. She was sure he wasn’t doing it on purpose, but this kind of thing never normally happened.

“We need to spread out a little more,” she said testily, the second time she ended up sprawled on the floor, hand clamped over her nose. She remembered from the last time they’d fought Princess Fragrance that it only mattered if they breathed the perfume through the nose.

“How spread out do you want us?” Chat sounded rather annoyed, but she was more concerned at how far away he sounded. She could have sworn he was right behind her. 

The actual perfume was now up to her shoulders, but the haze was growing, and she could barely make out Chat Noir, taking on all three supervillains at once twenty meters away. At least, the vague shape she thought was Chat Noir.

“Is that all you got, ladies?” he taunted, flipping backwards and taking a swipe at one of the other blurry forms.

Ladybug looked around frantically. This wasn’t working. They needed a new strategy. Her gaze landed again on the near-invisible fight in front of her, which was really the only thing in the room. 

It was too dim to see it anymore, but she remembered that Lady Wifi had a clothespin on her nose, which meant that she must not be immune to Princess Fragrance’s powers. As Ladybug watched, she noticed that the supervillains’ attacks were slowing, becoming clumsier. They couldn’t see any better than Ladybug could. It wouldn’t be long before they wouldn’t be able to see the heroes at all, except that meant that Ladybug and Chat Noir wouldn’t be able to see, either. Ladybug doubted Chat’s night vision would help much in fog this thick. They’d also both have to cover their noses soon, and they were barely getting by when they were able to fight with both hands.

Why didn’t she store clothespins in her yoyo? She’d have to remember that for next time. Though, wasn’t that what the Lucky Charm was supposed to do? Provide her with what she needed?

Remembering her Lucky Charm, she pulled it out and looked at it closer. Still just a video camera. A video camera she had no idea what to do with. 

Suddenly an elbow planted in her lower back and she was flung forward, the camera tumbling out of her grasp to land a few feet away. Princess Fragrance was still in the air, along with Lady Wifi, and the body appendage definitely hadn’t come from Horrificator.

“Watch it, Chat!” she snarled in annoyance, gasping for air through her mouth and groping around for the lost lucky charm with one hand while the other pinched her mouth closed.

“Watch what?” he asked, his tinny voice reverberating strangely around the cavern.

Ladybug ignored him as she stood up, noting that the perfume had now risen to her shoulders. She was out of time. She quickly opened the video camera and turned it on. Maybe an idea would come to her. To her surprise, however, the video camera didn’t show the red haze that was currently the bane of her existence - but rather, red and orange figures set in a blue background.

Of course. A thermal camera. It was a thermal video camera. And thanks to it, she could now _see_ the figures around her, rather than guessing where they were.

“Ladybug!”

Ladybug swung the camera towards her partner’s cry. To her surprise, though, she didn’t need the camera to see Chat Noir, as he had used his stick to haul himself up and was now perching on it, above the sea of perfume that was quickly threatening to overtake Ladybug. 

She shook her head at him, though she doubted he could see her, and plugged her nose with one hand just as the fog rose over her nose and eyes. She knew what she was going to do, now.

A cackle echoed eerily through the chamber. “Looks like we’ve caught a bug!”

“It takes more than a little smoke to bring down Ladybug!” her kitty shot back.

Ladybug allowed herself a smile, glad he still had faith in her, even though she’d let them get separated somehow. Seriously, the perfume with a dark chamber was doing weird things to her sense of direction.

Ladybug waited, breathing carefully through her mouth and spinning in a slow, tight circle, camera held out in front of her, careful to be completely silent. She could no longer see a thing except the faintly glowing screen of the camera. But that was okay, because no one else could see her, either. As soon as the perfume overtook the entire room, everyone’s vision but hers would be completely obscured.

Suddenly her blood ran cold, and she swung the camera around again, quickly cataloging the heat signatures picked up by the camera. There should be five forms, right? There was Lila, still trapped in the goo, who was slumped, not moving, overtaken by the perfume. Horrificator, who was prowling around, growling from the loss of sight and flinging goo randomly. Lady Wifi and Princess Fragrance, swooping around overhead, attacking hat Noir - who was doing a very good job fending off two superheroes while suspended precariously above a cloud of perfume. 

But she saw six forms in the camera. Ladybug triple-checked. Yep, six. She wasn’t going crazy, right? Who the hell was it? Why hadn’t she seen them?

Ladybug realized who it must be at the same time that she realized that the form was stumbling towards Chat Noir, arms held out in front determinedly, heading towards his yells and taunts that were echoing through the chamber, masking the sound of the supervillain’s clumsy movements and she swept her arms back and forth.

Ladybug darted forward, nose still pinched shut, and tripped the supervillain before she could knock Chat’s stick over. Holding her breath, she released her nose and snatched the glasses off of Vanisher’s face from behind, crushing them in her hand. Before Vanisher could react, Ladybug had dropped the broken glasses and snatched the clothespin holding Vanisher’s nose shut.

Clamping it over her own nose, Ladybug drew in a deep breath through her mouth. She could feel the chemicals coating her tongue, but now she had a hand free for her yoyo.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t find the akuma in the red haze, even with the camera.

Oh, well. It wasn’t like it was going anywhere, trapped as they all were. She’d get it later.

Sabrina hadn’t gotten up from the ground, having gotten a breath of the perfume almost instantly. Ladybug dragged her still body over to the closest cavern wall, a surge of guilt rising up in her. She hadn’t even thought to check on Sabrina. She silently promised herself to do better next time.

Chat yelled her name, voice high and desperate, and Ladybug grimaced but dared not respond and give herself away. Even as Lady Wifi started taunting him again and Chat growled back, words indistinguishable.

Ladybug swung the camera around, searching for the warm blob that was Horrificator. Once she tracked the monster down, who was desperately searching for Ladybug’s body in the thick fog, it was easy to find the pin and release the akuma. Mylene, like Sabrina, quickly succumbed to Princess Fragrance’s fumes, but Ladybug left her sitting where she was. She needed to end this quickly.

Ladybug spun around, then coughed, trying to muffle the sound with her free hand. The perfume was wreaking havoc on her throat and lungs as she continued to breathe it in through her mouth. Another reason to speed this along.

“Ladybug!” Chat called again, obviously worried. And he had every right to be. By now, the perfume had surely filled the entire cavern. She was the only one who would be able to see. 

Perfect.

Ladybug ran, holding the camera so she could see Princess Fragrance and Lady Wifi swooping around her partner, who was holding his nose. 

All of a sudden they dove towards him, and Ladybug cried out in warning, but it was drowned out by Chat Noir’s roar of “Cataclysm!”

Hearing the familiar words made the supervillains scramble back immediately as Chat held his hand out, sweeping it around towards the enemies he couldn’t see.

Lady Wifi and Princess Fragrance held back, suddenly wary.

Chat continued to wave his arm around. “Yeah, that’s right. You wouldn’t want me to use this, would you?”

Ladybug watched as he stretched his arm towards the ceiling and his baton started to extend, carrying him up…

Oh God, no. What was he thinking?

“No, don’t do that!” Ladybug yelled, voice cracking and hoarse from the perfume she was breathing in. He was going to bring the entire tunnel down around them. It was suicide. She tried again, loud and desperate. “Chat! Stop!”

Luckily, Chat paused. “Ladybug?” he said in disbelief, or maybe relief, lowering his hand. 

Unfortunately, Lady Wifi and Princess Fragrance’s forms both whirled towards the sound of her voice. “Ladybug!” Lady Wifi said triumphantly.

“Servants! Attack Ladybug! Get her earrings!”

Well. So much for the element of surprise.

Rushing footsteps echoed behind her, and Ladybug ducked as Sabrina and Mylene lunged at her, grasping at her earrings. Flipping backwards, Ladybug swept her leg out, knocking both of them off of their feet before running away, hoping she could circle around and get to Chat Noir.

Ladybug’s earrings beeped, and Mylene and Sabrina instantly ran towards the sound, groping around for her in the fog. Ladybug cursed. She had saved Sabrina and Mylene and stopped Vanisher’s sneak attack, but there were still two akumas to go, and both she and Chat Noir would run out of time soon.

Running straight towards Chat Noir, still perched on his stick, Ladybug hoped Chat was paying attention. “You can't beat me if you can’t see me!” she taunted, ducking around the base of Chat’s staff.

Lady Wifi growled. “Well, that’s an easy fix, isn’t it?”

There was a bright flash up in the air and two squeals. Ladybug grinned to herself. Never try to shine bright light through fog if you don’t want to blind yourself.

Chat lunged toward the flash, making Lady Wifi reel backwards, trying frantically to avoid his cataclysm. Snatching her phone from her with his left hand, Chat dropped it, and it fell before shattering on the ground below.

Yes. Four down. One to go.

Chat Noir and Alya dropped to the ground, Chat holding Alya and bracing their fall. Alya instantly started struggling, grabbing at his right hand despite the bubbles of black destruction still floating around it. Ladybug ran closer, tangling Alya up in her yoyo long enough for Chat Noir to escape. He grabbed the wire with one hand and followed it, eventually reaching Ladybug, who noticed that he now had Alya’s clothespin on her nose. 

“There you are,” he breathed, then, without waiting for a response, wrapped his non-cataclysm hand around her waist and vaulted them both up on his staff, shooting them up towards the ceiling, where Princess Fragrance was circling, searching for them and screeching at her servants to find them.

Ladybug doubled over in Chat’s lap and hacked. She’d definitely inhaled way too much perfume to be healthy, and her throat and lungs were burning. 

Chat squeezed her wrist, though he couldn’t possibly feel much better. “Are you okay?”

“We need to finish this,” Ladybug wheezed, handing him the camera. “It’s now or never.”

“But you’ll-”

“Probably fall, yes. I’ll be fine.”

“If you’re sure.” 

Rather than responding, Ladybug clambered out of his lap and clung to the stick like a fireman pole. 

“Hey, Your Royal Stinkiness!” Chat yelled into the gloom. “You’ve lost already!”

They watched the camera screen together as Princess Fragrance swooped towards the sound of his voice. Chat tensed above her, then leaped. The force of his jump toppled Ladybug over, but she twisted in the air and landed in a crouch, catching Chat’s baton over her head. 

Immediately she ran forward, hearing a yelp, and Rose’s small form dropped into her arms.

“Purr-fect catch, milady,” Chat Noir said approvingly, dropping through the haze next to her and handing her the camera.

“Why, thank you.” Ladybug responded, setting Rose down on her feet and taking the camera from him, giving him back his stick. She inspected the camera briefly, then tossed it into the air. “Miraculous Ladybug!”

The magical ladybugs swirled around the cavern dizzyingly. When they cleared, Ladybug found herself, Chat, and the four girls standing in the park, along with Lila, Ivan, Lila’s mom, and another random citizen that must have been unlucky enough to be caught by Horrificator and trapped in the cavern with them.

Ladybug looked up, seeing the four freed akumas flapping lazily away. With a relieved smile, she yanked off her clothespin and took a deep breath of fresh air before twirling her yoyo and snagging the akumas out of the sky. With a wide smile, she released them back into the air, Chat Noir letting out a playful whoop.

There was a distant shout, and Ladybug turned just in time to see the rest of their class charging at them from across the park.

Nino was first, almost knocking Alya over with the force of his tackle-hug and squeezing her close. Juleka was right behind him, wrapping up Rose in her arms, and out of the corner of her eye, Ladybug saw Mylene and Ivan quietly embrace each other. To Ladybug’s surprise, even Chloe had shown up at some point while they were down in the tunnels, and was now pretending that she wasn’t relieved to see Sabrina was okay, though they had also shared a quick, impulsive hug. The rest of their classmates surrounded them, patting each other on the back and chattering in evident relief.

The scene warmed Ladybug’s heart, and for a moment she regretted that, right now, she wasn’t one of them, and that she couldn’t fully partake in their relief in seeing their classmates safe and sound. She glanced over at Chat Noir, at Adrien, who was watching his friends with a fond look. She elbowed him. “Hey.” She held up a fist. “Pound it.”

He obliged, giving her a weary, though triumphant smile. “Pound it.”

Ladybug suddenly lurched forward, bumping straight into Chat’s chest as they were engulfed on all sides by Alya and Rose, who were quickly joined by the other three girls who had been akumatized. “Thank you guys so much!” Rose squealed, and everyone else chimed in in agreement, the specific words lost in the small pocket of chaos and emotion.

Ladybug couldn’t help but laugh as they released her. “No problem, girls. Are you all okay?”

“We’re all fine now, thanks to you,” Alya said, tucking her hair behind her ear, looking at Ladybug almost shyly. With a start, Ladybug realized that this was probably the first time she’d spoken to Alya face to face as Ladybug since the day she’d told her that she wouldn’t be getting her miraculous again. She was relieved that Alya seemed to be taking it well. At least better than Chloe had.

Ladybug took Alya’s hands in her own. “I’m glad to hear it.”

“Excuse me,” A tall woman with dark hair and red lipstick stepped forward, waving for the group’s attention. “I would tell you that my daughter wants to say something, but at this point I don’t trust her not to make the situation worse.” She shot a look at Lila, who was standing at the very edge of the group, as if hoping not to be noticed. 

Turning back to Ladybug and Chat Noir, Mrs. Rossi continued. “I really appreciate your help today. Thank you both so much.”

“That’s our job, ma’am.” Chat Noir said politely. “All in a day’s work.”

“That’s the thing, darlings. It turns out that my daughter has been less than truthful with me when it came to Paris’ superheroes. I am so, so sorry for any trouble she may have caused you both, today and previously. It can’t be easy trying to save Paris with someone getting in the way.”

The class murmured and turned to Lila. Ivan’s arms crossed accusingly. “You said Ladybug was your friend,” Ivan said. “But you were about as rude as Chloe down in the tunnels.”

Lila paled, probably just now realizing that the people trapped in the tunnel with her had heard every word that she’d said, even as Chloe said, “Hey!”

“She’s got it out for Ladybug,” Chat chimed in helpfully. “Ow!” he said when Ladybug elbowed him sharply. “Hey, it’s true. She hates you. She’s the only person who could ever hate you.” He paused. “Except Hawkmoth.”

Ladybug held her breath, waiting for the explosion. They did not need more chaos after the day they’d all had.

Luckily, their class did not seem on the edge of a breakdown. Maybe they’d finally realized how awful Lila really was. They were all standing with their arms crossed and scowling as they watched Lila’s mother escort her away, across the park. Alya turned to the superheroes. “Did Lila really try to sabotage you?”

“Do you really want to know?” Ladybug asked after a brief hesitation. “You were just akumatized because of Lila-”

“It’s okay,” Alya assured her. “What’s important is that we know the truth. I don’t want any more surprises from Lila. For _anyone._ ” Her hand gripped her phone tightly, and Ladybug suddenly had an idea of what, exactly, Alya had been planning to do with Lila while she was akumatized. There was a reason the supervillains had left her mouth free, after all. You can’t confess your wrongdoings if you can’t talk. “So, did Lila Rossi try to sabotage you?”

Ladybug smiled, but Chat Noir jumped in before she could say anything. “Yep. She totally has it out for her.”

Alya pulled out her phone, a glint in her eye that made Ladybug a little nervous. “Would you be willing to let me get that on record for the Ladyblog? You know, a little… public service announcement?”

Ladybug grinned despite herself. It looked like everything was going to work out.

Her earrings let out a sudden, frantic beeping, and one hand went to her ear as Chat Noir’s ring joined in. “Shoot. I’ve gotta split.”

“Me too.” Chat Noir said. “Rain check on that interview? I’ll find you.”

Alya nodded. “Anytime, Chat Noir.”

Chat Noir took out his baton, then paused, turning to face Ladybug fully, a shadow crossing over his face. “So…” he reached up to rub the back of his neck, and the endearing gesture suddenly reminded Ladybug very much of Adrien. “Um, should we…?”

Ladybug placed a hand on his shoulder. “You should go find Marinette,” she whispered, conscious of the class still watching them. Her eyes sparkled as she pulled back and he blinked in confusion. “Trust me. We’ll talk later.”

“Yeah, she’s… she’s probably worried. Thanks, Ladybug.”

Ladybug watched until he cleared the nearest rooftop, then bolted with a hasty “Bug out!” to the class.

She had to beat him back to the school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it is really hard to write an akuma battle when no one can see anything. I hope it wasn’t too confusing. In case it wasn’t clear, Vanisher was the reason Ladybug and Chat Noir kept tripping over what they thought was each other and getting tangled up.
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated! Let me know what you think!


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right y’all, I’m ready to put you out of your misery… sort of. Mwahahahahah!

Marinette had just barely cleared the window and dropped her transformation when she heard footsteps racing toward her from around the corner. “Marinette!”

She made sure Tikki was safely hidden in her purse before turning to see Adrien sprinting towards her, still in his fencing gear even though it was past six and the sun was starting to set already. He stopped just shy of arm’s reach, so abruptly that Marinette wondered if he’d been about to hug her.

She kind of wished he had.

She glanced around, making sure they were alone, then said, “There’s something I need to tell you.”

“What? No ‘glad you’re okay’? No ‘thank you for stopping five supervillains today’?” Adrien joked, crossing his arms and pretending to pout.

And here she’d thought cocky Adrien was dead. She should have known better. He was Chat Noir, after all. Marinette leveled a flat look at him. “Speaking of-” she started.

“Yeah, speaking of,” Adrien interrupted, uncrossing his arms. “What were you thinking?”

“What?”

“I mean, I appreciate you coming to find me, but during an akuma attack? It’s dangerous! And everyone’s saying you weren’t answering your phone this whole time - no one knew where you were or if you’d been akumatized!”

Marinette stared at him as he lectured her, jaw hanging open. This was not how she pictured this conversation going. “I-”

They both jumped as a loud ringtone sounded. Adrien pulled out his phone. “Nino. He’s probably worried I haven’t been picking up.” 

“And you’re lecturing _me_ on answering my phone?” Marinette asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Adrien scowled at her. “ _I_ was saving Paris. What’s _your_ excuse?”

Marinette stuck her tongue out at him, ready to explain that she had also been saving Paris, but Adrien was already answering his phone.

“Hey, Nino-” Adrien winced and held the phone away from his ear before tentatively bringing it back. “...and Alya.”

Marinette smirked and pulled out her own phone, checking her messages. There were a ton from Nino demanding to know where she was, some concerned ones from Nathanael, Kim, and Alix, and some more recent, very enthusiastic ones from Alya. 

“I’m at the school,” Adrien said. “Yeah, Marinette’s with me… Yes, I’m sure.” He rolled his eyes at Marinette and she giggled. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry… we’ll both keep our phones on next time… the park? Okay, we’ll be there in five.”

He hung up and looked down at himself. “I’ll go get changed,” he said. “If we hurry we can be at the park before my bodyguard gets here.”

And before Marinette could protest, he was gone.

She ended up nervously pacing the hallway outside the locker room, trying to distract herself by responding to all of her messages and not quite succeeding. As soon as Adrien emerged in normal clothes, a duffel bag slung over his shoulder, Marinette’s heart jumped into her throat.

“Ready?” Adrien asked. “If we don’t get to the park soon, I’m pretty sure our class is going to organize a search party. They were pretty worried about you.”

“What about you?” Marinette asked as they started down the hallway

“As far as anyone knows, I was at fencing and my phone was in my locker.” Adrien winked at her. “I’ve gotten pretty good at making excuses.”

“Oh yeah?” Marinette raised an eyebrow at him. “Even though your fencing lesson ended half an hour ago?”

“Hey! It’s way better than your excuses, Miss the-bus-was-late. You live right next to the school!”

Marinette almost tripped down the stairs. _Oh no he didn’t._ Marinette gaped at him, torn between amusement and indignation. Indignation won. “Excuse you,” she said, offended. “I give great excuses.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“I do!”

Adrien held open the door, giving her a skeptical look. “Name _one_ excuse that everyone believed.”

“Hmm…” Marinette tapped her chin with her finger, pretending to think as she sauntered past him through the doorway. “Well, I made everyone think that I’ve been at the school waiting for you this whole time.” She grinned to herself, skipping down the front steps.

Adrien blinked, then ran to catch up with her. “...So you weren’t? Where were you?”

“Tracking down supervillains.” Marinette turned her head and smiled slyly up at him, waiting for him to get it.

He didn’t. “Marinette! I thought you knew better.”

Marinette blinked, the smile dropping off of her face like a stone. “What?”

“You can’t go chasing after supervillains! It’s dangerous! Bad enough that Alya does it! Why didn’t you stay put like you were supposed to?”

_Damn it._ She was going to have to come right out and say it, wasn’t she? “You didn’t stay put,” she pointed out, just to needle him.

“Because I’m a superhero!” He whisper-yelled at her. “You’re not! And you need to stay safe, because I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you!”

They’d stopped walking and were standing on the sidewalk outside the park, Adrien’s green eyes boring into hers. Marinette’s eyes flickered down to his lips, and for a brief second, Adrien’s did too. Then his eyes widened almost imperceptibly, and he shifted backwards, putting more space between them. 

Marinette swallowed down her disappointment. 

“I care about you, Marinette.” Adrien said softly, bringing unbidden heat to her cheeks. “I’m so excited that you know who I am, but it puts you in danger. Knowing who Paris’s superheroes are…” He shook his head in bewilderment, breaking the spell that had fallen over them. “Man, I still can’t believe you figured out both of us. The only person to know both of our identities was Master Fu, and he’s the one who chose us. You’re like a Guardian now!”

Marinette burst out laughing. 

Adrien’s excited expression dropped. “What?” he demanded.

His bewildered expression just made her laugh harder, clutching her sides and shaking her head. First “everyday Ladybug” and now “Guardian”. She couldn’t take it anymore. He needed to know. No way was she going to survive if all of their conversations went anything like the past fifteen minutes.

“Adrien, I’m-” she broke off, still laughing too hard to continue. 

Adrien chuckled with her uncertainly, which just made her laugh even harder because he had _no idea_ what was going on.

She took a deep breath, steadying herself. Then she made the mistake of imagining his face when she told him and she dissolved into giggles again.

Adrien patted her shoulder. “Yeah, yeah,” he said absently. “It’s pretty funny when you think about it and-”

“I’m L-Ladybug,” Marinette gasped. “I’m the actual-” she giggled again. “-Guardian.”

“-and I trust you with… wait, what?” Adrien’s hand stilled, then withdrew.

“I’m Ladybug,” she repeated, holding her breath as Adrien stared at her. She could practically see the gears turning in his head, struggling to switch from what he’d just been about to tell her to what he’d just heard.

Plagg peeked out of Adrien’s shirt pocket, then emerged, flying around Marinette. “Finally! Where’s Tikki?” He flew around her head, ducking into her hair briefly. “Sugarcube!”

“I told you not to call me that!” Tikki said, voice muffled, from Marinette’s purse.

Plagg immediately flew down and phased through the bag. 

“Hey!” Tikki protested.

“Nice to see you too, Sugarcube.”

Marinette giggled.

“Oh my God,” Adrien said. “Are you serious?” At Marinette’s nod, he started to laugh, and Marinette joined him. “How did I not see it? It makes so much sense now!” He raised his voice so it sounded high and squeaky. “Don’t worry about Marinette! She went to find Adrien!”

“I do not sound like that!” Marinette protested, though she was giggling. “And you totally believed it!”

“You shouldn’t idolize Marinette! This is all her fault!” He said, still mimicking her.

Marinette deepened her voice so she sounded like a bad cartoon character. “Marinette’s wonderful! We can trust her! Let’s give her a miraculous!”

“Oh my god,” Adrien breathed, blushing red suddenly. “You-I…” he buried his face in his hands. “I’m an idiot. That’s so embarrassing.”

“Only a little,” Marinette teased, though secretly she was breathing a sigh of relief that he wasn’t mad. Or disgusted. Or not talking to her.

She didn’t know if she could handle that.

She jumped as she felt a hand cup the side of her face, but Adrien only brushed her hair behind her ear. It took Marinette a second to realize that he was inspecting her earrings, and she instantly scolded herself for jumping to conclusions. 

“Huh.” Adrien said. “But I thought Master Fu didn’t want us to know each other’s identities.”

“Um, yeah,” Marinette responded, forcing her thoughts back to the conversation. “That’s why I didn’t tell you right away. Sorry about that.” Adrien waved her apology away. “But I’m the Guardian so I guess I make the rules now.”

Adrien smiled, and Marinette wondered how she’d never noticed how handsome he looked when he smiled. Shifting his bag on his shoulder, he leaned down to hug her. She wrapped her arms around his torso and buried her face in his shoulder. 

Somehow, not looking at him made it easier to tell him, “I never want you to think I’m keeping secrets from you.”

“It’s okay, Marinette.” Adrien responded. “We had to keep our identities a secret. And you’re the Guardian. You need to keep other secrets too. I understand.”

“But you were mad at me. It almost messed us up today, kitty.” How could she explain this to him? They were Ladybug and Chat Noir. They needed to be balanced. They needed to trust each other to the point where it didn’t matter that they needed to keep secrets from each other. And whatever Adrien said, Marinette wasn’t convinced that they were there yet, based on Chat Noir’s reaction in the tunnels.

They were quiet for a moment, then Adrien muttered, “My lady hated me.”

Marinette pulled away from his grip. “What?”

“You used to hate me.” Adrien said, louder.

Marinette’s eyes widened. “I… no, I didn’t.”

“You totally did! You would barely _look_ at me!”

“I did not hate you!” Marinette insisted, face flushing. “It was a misunderstanding!”

“MARINETTE DUPAIN-CHENG!”

Marinette flinched. “Uh oh.” She turned to see Alya storming towards them from the other side of the park, the rest of the class on her heels. “Um… you can’t say I don’t have a good excuse for not answering my phone now.”

Adrien gave her a lopsided smile. “I guess I can’t.” He paused. “Is this why you’re late all the time?”

Thirty minutes later, Marinette was curled up on the Cesaire’s couch, phone in her lap and Adrien on video call. They’d only been in the park a few minutes before Adrien’s bodyguard had arrived and he’d had to go, abandoning her to the clutches of her equal parts enraged and excited best friend.

Someday she was going to ask him how he was able to escape his bodyguard so often to transform. But now was probably not the time.

After lots of apologies and reassurances and reminders to answer her phone and a recount of everything that had happened to them (Marinette pretending that she was hearing it all for the first time), Alya had insisted that she and Nino head to her house for homework.

At least, Nino and Marinette were doing homework, with Adrien helping them go through the physics problems from the phone screen. Alya was scrolling through her phone and muttering to herself, making Nino and Marinette exchange several concerned glances. Those eventually turned into nudges, which turned into a full-blown staring contest between Alya’s best friend and her boyfriend.

Nino lost.

“Babe,” he said gently. “We’ve got homework.” When Alya didn’t even seem to notice that he’d spoken to her, he sighed and put a hand on her shoulder. “What’s happened has happened. There isn’t anything you can do about it.”

“Like hell there isn’t,” Alya muttered. “Did you know that she tried to sabotage Ladybug?” she asked Marinette.

“She did?” Marinette asked as innocently as possible. On her phone screen, Adrien pressed his lips together as if suppressing a smile. “Why would she do that?”

“Because she hates her, apparently. I have no idea why, though. Maybe Chat Noir will tell me.”

“Chat Noir?”

“Yeah! I forgot to tell you! He’s giving me an interview.”

“Is that a good idea?” Marinette asked, as much to Adrien as to Alya.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Adrien told her.

“Thank you, Adrien.” Alya said. “I’m taking down all the Ladyblog posts with Lila in it and posting an apology. I’m getting this story _right_. Lila isn’t going to be fooling anyone else. 

Marinette felt a pang as she looked at her friend. Alya took her blog very seriously, and her credibility as a journalist had just been dealt a big blow. She could tell how determined her friend was to fix it.

“What story?” Nino asked, confused. “The interview?”

“Yep. I’m not sure exactly what Lila did yet, but I’m pretty sure evidence that she sabotaged Paris’ superhero duo is enough to get her charged for aiding and abetting a supervillain.”

Marinette’s eyes widened. “Alya,” she said. “I know Lila hurt you, but you don’t need to lash out like this.”

Alya finally looked up from her phone. “Lash out? I’m not lashing out.”

“But Lila…”

“Is going to get what she deserves.” Alya said matter-of-factly. Marinette screwed up her face doubtfully, and Alya’s expression softened. “Oh, honey. I see what this is about.” She reached over to put her hand on Marinette’s. “Yes, Lila lied to me. She lied to all of us, and took advantage of us, and made me really, really mad. But that’s not what I was thinking about when I got akumatized.”

“It wasn’t?” All three of them asked at the same time.

“No. I was thinking about how I hadn’t listened to you, Marinette, and I wasn’t watching out for you, Adrien, and even when I did start to get suspicious, I wanted to play it down and I wasn’t as concerned as I should have been like you, Nino.” Alya held her phone up. “There are a lot of things I should have done differently, because in the end, I failed my friends and my boyfriend when they needed me the most.” Her voice took on a steely quality. “And I’m not going to make the same mistake again.”

Marinette’s heart swelled, and she crawled off of the couch so she could give Alya an awkward splayed-over-the-lap hug. “You are a better friend than you give yourself credit for, Al,” she said, voice muffled from where it was squished into her friend’s stomach.

Alya patted Marinette’s hair. “I’m sorry, girl.”

“It’s all good,” Marinette promised. She pulled back and accepted her phone back from Nino, who had taken it from her hand at some point, probably to avoid making Adrien nauseated.

Marinette settled herself back on the couch while Nino tried to convince Alya to leave off the Ladyblog for a few minutes so she could get her homework done.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Adrien told her quietly, seeing her concerned face. “But… I think this does count as justice, not revenge. Alya’s a good reporter. She knows what she’s doing.”

Marinette gave him a wry smile. “You read my mind.”

“A few hours to finish your homework isn’t going to make that much of a difference,” Nino told Alya.

“It makes a difference to me,” she retorted, holding her phone out of his reach. “This time tomorrow, Lila’s credibility is going to be history.”

“What if there was an akuma that made our homework disappear?” Marinette mused quietly while Alya and Nino continued to argue. “Too bad we haven’t gotten one of those yet.”

“You’d just end up fixing it all anyway,” Adrien pointed out.

Marinette groaned. “Not helpful, kitty.” She reconsidered. “Okay, what if you transformed cataclysmed my homework for me?”

“Wouldn’t it just come back the next time you did Miraculous Ladybug?”

“I don’t think so… would it?” Marinette wished she could ask Tikki, but her purse was sitting on the counter across the room. Tikki might not even be in there anymore. 

“Plagg says it wouldn’t.” There was a brief pause, then Adrien said, “The leaning Tower of Pisa? That was you?”

Marinette giggled. “Where is he?”

“Right in front of the camera.” Adrien said.

“Really?” Marinette brought the phone closer to her face, as if that would help. “I can’t see him at all.”

“I know right? It’s weird.” Adrien curled his hand as if cupping an invisible ball. Or kwami. “Okay, I think you need to tell us the leaning tower of Pisa story.”

“Wait until we have Tikki,” Marinette told them. “It’ll be funnier.”

“Alya, if you don’t stop and do your homework with us right now, you’re on your own.” Nino said loudly. Marinette turned her phone around so Adrien could watch the escalating showdown.

Alya gasped and pressed a hand to her chest. “You wouldn’t.”

Nino held her gaze.

A few seconds into their staring contest, Adrien wolf-whistled and Marinette called, “Get a room!”

Alya scowled in their direction. “Who invited those dorks?”

“That’s on you, babe.” Nino told her, finally managing to snatch her phone from her. “And now, you’re not getting this back until you’ve at least done your physics homework.”

A tone sounded from the phone in Nino’s hand, and Marinette’s vibrated. Alya instantly lunged for Nino and wrestled the phone away from him. “That’s the akuma alert!”

“Seriously?” Marinette squeaked, turning her phone to face her again. 

“There’s two of them by the police station!” Alya said excitedly. “Ugh, that’s so far away. I don’t know if I’ll get there in time.” She raced for her room, Nino hot on her heels.

Marinette turned back to Adrien. 

“Don’t worry, milady,” he said. “I’m closer. I’ll take care of them until you can get away.” The video call ended.

Marinette frantically flipped to the news feed. Alya was right, there were two of them, but neither were red, which meant that they’d both been akumatized by the same object, or that one of them was an amuk.

Hawkmoth was really torturing them today. Scarlet Moth and a sentimonster on the same day? Not cool. How was she going to leave without drawing suspicion?

“I’m going to the police station!” Alya announced, bursting out of her room. “With this and Chat Noir’s interview, this could be the final nail in Lila Rossi’s coffin!”

“What?” Marinette asked, confused.

“See this?” Alya stuck her phone in Marinette’s face. “That’s Lila there, in the background. I’m betting she had something to do with this. See you later!”

And then she was gone, the front door swinging shut behind her.

Nino rubbed his face. “I swear, sometimes it’s like keeping up with a whirlwind.”

“That’s Alya for you,” Marinette sighed. “I guess I’ll head out now,” she added, grabbing her bag and hoping that Tikki was inside it and that Nino wouldn’t offer to walk her home.

“Sure,” he said. “I’m just going to go tell Nora we’ve all left. See you later.”

“Bye,” Marinette said, relieved she had a clean break to go transform.

“Text me when you get home,” Nino called when she was halfway out the door.

_Damn it._ “Sure thing.”

Marinette waited until she was a block away before ducking into an alley and opening her purse, carefully making sure no one was anywhere near.

Tikki flew around her head. “Evil never rests, I guess!”

“And neither does Lila Rossi, apparently.” Marinette muttered. “Let’s go help Adrien. Tikki, spots on!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHHHH guys we’re almost done! Like, how?
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated! Let me know what you think!


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, look, I know I said this would be the last chapter, but…
> 
> Apparently I am really bad at predicting how long my writing will take. And I refuse to be a day late.
> 
> Anyway, I took some liberties with some vague italian folklore I found on Wikipedia. Have fun, kids.

It didn’t take long for Chat Noir to find the supervillain. All he had to do was follow the lights.

Once he got to the police station - a grand building overlooking the Seine - he wasn’t sure what he was seeing. The streets still had a good number of people, despite how dark it had gotten, and the civilians nearest the station were… glowing? Some had bright, steady halos of light, and some were so dim Chat could hardly tell they were there. As far as he could see, there didn’t seem to be any reason why some people were glowing brighter than others.

Then a figure emerged from the shadows, a tall woman with dark, flowing robes and hair that whipped around as though in an invisible wind. She pointed her staff at a young couple that was clinging to each other, one shining like a lamp in the gloom, and the other with a significantly less bright aura.

“Oh my,” the supervillain said gleefully. “That looks rather lopsided, doesn’t it? We’d better fix that.” She raised a hand, shadows pouring out of it to pool at her feet before slithering towards the couple. They backed up, but their backs hit the wall of the building behind them and they clutched each other terrified, as the shadows hit their skin and the light around them started to fade. “That’s it,” the supervillain purred. “Give me those juicy secrets.” 

Chat wasn’t sure he wanted to know what was happening to them. And what was that about secrets?

“Hey!” He yelled, jumping down to land behind the supervillain. He extended his stick and poked her in the shoulder. “Did you happen to see a crazy floating lady anywhere around here?”

The supervillain turned around, the shadows dissipating as she looked at the new arrival. “Crazy?” she said, starting to float towards him. “No. But perhaps you’ve seen my daughter? She’s trying to escape punishment.” Her eyes were the blackest things Chat had ever seen, black holes that swallowed all light that dared come near.

“Your daughter?” Chat Noir’s eyes flickered to the side. There. Tucked in an entryway, hardly twenty meters behind the supervillain, was Lila Rossi. Chat scanned the rooftops, but there was no sign of Marinette. Or rather, Ladybug. “Sorry, but there are better ways to punish your daughter,” he said. He raised his baton, but didn’t charge. He wanted the supervillain to come towards him, away from Lila and the other civilians, who were finally able to flee now that they weren’t trapped under the threatening gaze of a supervillain.

“Better than this?” the villain asked. “No, I don’t think so. I think it’s exactly what she deserves.”

“What does she-ah!” Chat Noir jumped as a light aura of his own suddenly flared around him. Strong and steady, it was brighter than any of the others he’d seen. Or maybe that was because he was right in the middle of it.

“Oh my, all those wonderful secrets!” the supervillain called. “What are you hiding from us, little kitty cat? What does Paris deserve to know?” Extending her hand, the supervillain sent more shadows streaming at him - this time directly through the air.

Chat Noir dodged them all and rushed the supervillain, baton raised. The supervillain twirled her staff and out of Chat Noir’s periphery a bike-sized lizard-like creature with goat horns came roaring at him, forcing Chat to halt his attack, instead spinning around to defend himself as the doors to the police station banged open and a crowd of police officers stormed out, ready for a fight.

“There’s a toy for you to play with,” the supervillain said, and she drifted away towards the crowd of police officers. 

Chat wasn’t sure whether she was talking to him or the... _thing_ that was currently trying to slash him into ribbons. He’d made a rookie mistake. He should have remembered that there were two of them. If he had to guess, this one was a sentimonster. Chat’s aura flickered and then disappeared as he backed towards the railing on the edge of the road.

"Why, good evening, officers!” the villain greeted cheerfully. “What juicy secrets do we have today?” 

Chat dodged a lunge from the lizard, propelling it over the fence and into the dark waters of the river below, turning in time to see lights flickering into existence around the police force as the supervillain drew near. 

“Why, quite a few, it seems! We can’t have that, can we?” She sent streams of shadows toward the closest officer, who looked young enough to be an intern. The pale light around him dimmed immediately and the supervillain cackled as she threw her head back and absorbed them.

Despite the police’s weapons, none of them were effective against her shadows, and Chat Noir wasn’t sure what he could do, either. Since the shadows didn’t seem to be _harming_ the police officers, Chat ran to where he’d seen Lila earlier. Either she’d be able to tell him something that could help, or they could use her as bait. Whichever worked.

“Two supervillains after you in one day, Lila?” Chat asked from behind Lila, startling her. “That might be a record.”

“Technically,” Ladybug said, dropping in beside him, “It’s six supervillains and a sentimonster.”

Chat let out a low whistle. 

“I guess I’m just an overachiever,” Lila said, but it didn’t sound like her heart was really in it.

Shouts drew their attention back to the police officers. “In the name of the law, I command you to stop!” Lieutenant Roger yelled. To Chat’s surprise, his bubble of light wasn’t fading at all.

“Oh, but I so dearly want to know what you’re hiding,” the supervillain said sweetly, not letting up on her barrage of shadows.

“Never! That’s classified information. Cease your villainous activities immediately!”

“You mean these villainous activities?” the supervillain waved her arms, and shadows surrounded Lieutenant Roger. When the shadows faded, he was gone.

“Oh no!” Ladybug gasped.

The supervillain swept down the street towards them, making Chat Noir wonder how long she’d known they were there. As soon as they got close enough, their auras flared. Lila yelped and covered her eyes, and Chat had to squint to see through the blinding light emitting from Ladybug. 

Of course. If knowing secrets was a sport, Ladybug would be world champion.

“Mom!” Lila shrieked. “Stop it!”

“I’m not ‘Mom’ anymore,” the supervillain declared. “I am Umbria! Goddess of shadows and holder of secrets! And you,” she snarled, pointing her staff at Lila, “My darling child, you lied to your mother! You lied to all of Paris! But you will lie no more. No one can keep secrets from me!” Her eyes glinted, and they were lighter than before, more of a tawny brown than black. Raising her hand, she shot bolts of shadows at them. “You, there. You look like you have lots of tasty little secrets. What are you hiding from us, bug?”

Chat yanked Ladybug to the side to avoid the shadows. “That’s new. She wasn’t doing that before.”

“What did she mean?” Ladybug grabbed Lila’s wrist and ran down the road, away from the supervillain, who was sending shadow darts at their retreating backs.

“I think she’s absorbing people’s secrets. Don’t let her shadows touch you.”

“You’re just going to run away?” Lila exclaimed, yanking her arm from Ladybug’s grasp as they reached the corner of the block.

“Nope.” Ladybug said. “But you are.” She shoved Lila around the corner, then turned to head back to Umbria. 

Chat heard a splash, and he flung out his hand to stop her. “Wait.” There was another splash, and he cursed.

“What is it?” Ladybug asked.

Chat sighed. “The sentimonster.” 

They turned to face the lizard-like creature, wet and snarling, having crawled out of the river Chat threw it in. Chat wasn’t sure if he was imagining it, but it seemed bigger and meaner than before.

“Badalisc!” Umbria commanded, waving her staff. “Attack Ladybug and Chat Noir!”

“The staff!” Ladybug said, spinning her yoyo. “The amuk has got to be in there.”

Chat Noir charged the Badalisc, blocking it from following Ladybug as she ran towards Lila’s mother. As he fought, Chat could hear her pleading with Umbria, asking her to make the right choice and give her the staff.

It never worked. But Chat would never stop admiring Ladybug for trying.

“Of course this is worth it,” he heard Umbria snarl.

Chat vaulted over the Badalisc and turned to smack it with his stick, wishing that he could see what was going on with Ladybug. At least she was glowing so brightly he could easily tell where she was without looking.

“Knowledge is power, Ladybug!” Umbria roared. “You of all people should know that. And once I have all the power, no one will ever be able to lie to each other, because everyone will know everything! Everyone will be able to trust each other. No more secrets! No more lies! No more wondering if you can trust _your own daughter_!” Umbria raised her hands and sent more shadows streaming towards Ladybug.

Ladybug dodged, then yoyoed away as the shadows curled, trying to capture her glowing form in their grasp. With a yell, she landed on the Badalisc’s neck. Though the size of an office desk now, the sentimonster didn’t buckle like Chat Noir would have expected.

Umbria floated serenely over to them. Chat watched her warily while fending off the Badalisc’s snapping jaws. Was Umbria trying to catch them off guard, or was she really content to float around and let her sentimonster do all the fighting?

Umbria clicked her tongue. “So stubborn. So unwilling to trust. Just like my daughter.”

Ladybug pulled a face, riding the Badalisc like a rodeo cow as it tried to throw her off. “Please don’t compare me to Lila.”

In that moment, Chat could totally see Ladybug and Marinette being the same person. Who else would wrestle a giant lizard?

Umbria scowled, raising her staff and flicking it. With a mighty heave and a hiss, the Badalisc flung Ladybug off. She landed hard on her side in the street, skidding away from them and making the shadows her aura cast stretch and bounce erratically around them.

“Milady!” Chat Noir yelled, but the Badalisc reared back, preventing him from running to her.

The Badalisc turned and ambled toward Ladybug, who scrambled backwards to avoid it before getting to her feet and spinning her yoyo threateningly. “Nice try. You aren’t getting my secrets.”

Umbria shook her head. “Why shouldn’t Paris know who their ‘saviors’ really are?” She raised her hands, swirling the shadows around them. “They deserve to know, don’t they?”

“Umbria, this isn’t the way to get real trust!” Ladybug pleaded. “You don’t have to know everything about someone to trust them!

Chat Noir nodded, warily watching the Badalisc, who was pacing between him and Ladybug. “Everyone has a right to their secrets.”

Umbria turned to face him. “Do you really believe that, sweetheart? Look at how brightly your Lady glows.”

It was something Chat was secretly worrying about, but he quirked an eyebrow. “Well, I already knew she was the light of my life.”

“How does it feel to know she’s keeping secrets from you? That Ladybug doesn’t trust you enough to tell you whatever she’s hiding from you?”

“That’s not true!” Ladybug yelled as Chat pushed down the pang of doubt that had bloomed his chest. “I do trust him!”

“No!” Umbria snarled. “If she trusted you, she wouldn’t hide anything from you.”

Chat straightened, planting his feet. “Unlike your daughter, we have a good reason for keeping our secrets.”

“You’re going down, Umbria.” Ladybug added.

Umbria sighed, as if put out, and waved her staff. “Very well.”

The Badalisc leaped at Chat Noir, but Ladybug’s yoyo wrapped around its leg and yanked it back. Snarling, the Badalisc got back to its feet. “The reporters, kitty,” Ladybug said, cocking her head without taking her eyes off of the Badalisc.

Chat raced to where Umbria was shooting shadows at reporters who had strayed too close to the police station. “Funny, I would have thought you’d like reporters,” he said to the supervillain, leaping at her. 

Umbria howled and swung her staff at him, meeting his baton in midair. Chat Noir attacked again and again, but the light from the reporters still kept draining away as Ladybug ordered them to safety, until nothing was left. Umbria smiled in triumph, the orb on her staff swirling with light. “You’ve already lost, cat.”

She flung Chat Noir away, and he tumbled gracefully to a stop next to Ladybug. “We can’t stop those shadows,” he said.

“They’re intangible. There’s no way to block, we can barely dodge them,” Ladybug agreed. “If she launches an actual attack, we’re done for.”

“You’re saying this isn’t an actual attack?” Chat Noir asked skeptically, looking behind him to where the reporters were still lurking.

“She’s holding back. Toying with us. Why?” Ladybug paused. “Was her staff glowing like that before?”

“No,” Chat said. “The Badalisc or whatever it’s called wasn’t as big as it is now, either.”

Ladybug’s eyes widened. “She’s getting stronger.” She breathed. She clutched Chat’s arm, watching as Umbria closed her eyes and inhaled, absorbing the last dreg’s of the reporter’s aura. “What did she say? ‘Knowledge is powerful?’ People’s secrets are making her more powerful!”

“I hope I don’t get to see what she’s like if she gets a hold of _your_ secrets.” 

Chat was careful to keep any trace of bitterness out of his voice, but Ladybug looked at him sidelong anyway. “You know I trust you, right? I trust you with my life. I always have.”

“I know, Ladybug.” But what secret could she possibly have left? He knew her identity. She was the guardian. That had to be it. Who knew what guardian-y things Master Fu had taught her?

But what if there was something else?

Umbria finally turned to face them again. “Don’t you see?” she asked. “Secrets are dangerous. Secrets get in the way of trust!” she licked her lips. “Now, where is my daughter? It’s time she learns to not keep secrets from me.”

“Sorry,” Ladybug announced. “But that’s another secret we won’t be sharing just yet.”

Umbria growled and waved her arms, sending both the Badalisc and a ton of shadows racing towards them. The superheroes yelped and dove out of the way.

_I’m glowing too,_ Chat Noir reminded himself. He had secrets he was keeping from Paris, from his father, from his friends…

_But not from Ladybug,_ that traitorous voice in the back of his head whispered. _You’re not keeping anything from Marinette anymore._

But that wasn’t quite true. She didn’t know he was in love with her.

_...that I’m in love with her._

The shadows were whipping around them faster than before, and it was taking all Chat had to keep himself from getting touched by one and avoid the Badalisc. He wasn’t sure why Umbria didn’t just leave to find Lila. Maybe she wanted to get their miraculous first. Maybe she wanted them to tell her where she was.

Maybe she _really_ liked toying with her prey.

“Lucky Charm!” A hand mirror landed in Ladybug’s outstretched arms. “Um…” she looked around frantically.

“Ladybug always flirted with Chat Noir,” Chat blurted suddenly.

Ladybug spared him a bewildered glance as she held the Badalisc at bay. “What?”

This was the worst possible time to be having this conversation. He did it anyway. “You always flirted with me. As Chat Noir,” he repeated.

“And I did a much better job than Adrien flirting with Marinette.” Ladybug ran and dropped to her knees, sliding under the Badalisc and wrapping her yoyo string around its legs. 

Chat flushed with embarrassment as he followed, using his baton to push the sentimonster over. When had she realized he’d been flirting with her? Or trying to, anyway.

Ladybug was staying focused on the battle, and she sounded frustrated. But Chat Noir couldn’t help but notice the slightest strain in her voice. The same strain as when they’d talked about LIla. Or Multimouse. Or Marinette.

She’d been hiding something all of those times. She’d been hiding the fact that she was Marinette. And now that he knew she was Marinette…

Marinette didn’t flirt as a joke. She flirted with Chat Noir, and maybe Luka, a little. And Adrien, but only since that morning… after she’d found out he was Chat Noir.

The Badalisc got back to its feet (seriously, the thing was practically indestructible) but instead of charging at the superhero duo again, it lumbered towards the reporters, who eagerly held up their cameras. Ladybug growled and went after it.

One of the reporters shrieked and dropped her microphone. “I can’t move my feet!” There was a sudden panic and the small group started running, some with more luck than others. Some people’s legs or torso seemed to be completely frozen.

Chat Noir ran, keeping pace with Ladybug. “Does that mean you-”

“Not now, kitty!” Ladybug yelled, swinging her yoyo. “Really? It can paralyze people now?” she said, exasperated. “Don’t look it in the eyes!”

“But-” Chat started.

“Kind of busy here!”

“You hated me, though!” Chat Noir positioned himself between the Badalisc and the paralyzed reporters, keeping it from attacking them while trying not to make eye contact with it himself. It was harder than he would have thought.

“I didn’t hate Chat Noir!” Ladybug was attempting to snag Umbria with her yoyo before her shadows could get to the trapped reporters, without much luck.

“I am Chat Noir!”

“Oh really? I hadn’t noticed!” Ladybug attached her yoyo to a rooftop and swung towards Umbria. Umbria caught her with the staff and flung her away before going back to absorbing the light from the trapped reporters. Ladybug landed hard, skidding almost to the wall on the bank of the Seine.

“Why are we arguing about this?” Chat asked, running over to help her.

“We’re not arguing!” Ladybug snapped.

There it was again. Ladybug wasn’t talking to him. He would have gotten angry, but then again, maybe he shouldn’t be trying to talk to her about love and feelings when the fate of the world was at stake.

This close to Ladybug, her light was almost blinding, and Chat had to angle himself away from her and squint in order to see Umbria and the Badalisc closing in on them. He focused on Umbria, hoping that Ladybug was right and as long as he didn’t look at the Badalisc, he wouldn’t be paralyzed.

“Do you see yet?” Umbria asked. “Secrets ruin everything! Which is why you must give me yours!”

“Never!” Ladybug and Chat Noir roared at the same time.

“Fine. I gave you a chance. I gave you many chances. But if you won’t willingly give me your secrets, I’ll take them!” Umbria raised her hands, and it looked like she was gathering every shadow she could reach.

They were cornered. And in that instant, Chat realized that he did trust Ladybug. He trusted her to get them out of this, even though he could see no way out. He trusted her to bring him back.

Because Ladybug had so many secrets to protect, and a world to save. That was what she needed to focus on. Those were secrets worth keeping.

In the instant before the shadows hit them, Chat pushed Ladybug behind him, shielding her with his body and taking the brunt force of the impact as Umbria blasted her shadows at them. His vision blackened, and the last thing he heard was Ladybug’s scream of “Chat!” as the shadows completely engulfed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So remember when Hawkmoth had an idea for an akuma that would prey on their weaknesses? Yeah…
> 
> This really was supposed to be the last chapter, but I swear akuma battles take twice as many words as I think they will. I promise I’m not torturing you guys on purpose. This time.
> 
> Kudos and comments are appreciated! Let me know what you think!


	29. Chapter 29

Ladybug could only watch in horror as she fell against the wall, watching Chat Noir fade into nothing right before her eyes as the shadows surrounding her dispersed. No. No no nononono. This couldn’t be happening again. Roaring with anger, she swung her yoyo and charged at Umbria, who seemed to be crackling with energy. 

“Has someone lost their bitty kitty?” the villain taunted. “Awwww…” Umbria cackled and raised her staff. The badalisc, now the size of a car, rose up on its haunches (could lizards even do that in real life?) and it took everything Ladybug had to keep it at bay without looking at its eyes. 

She was terrified, but it had less to do with the supervillain and sentimonster in front of her than with the fear that Umbria, and by extension Hawkmoth, now knew who Chat Noir really was. Had Umbria absorbed his secrets along with… him?

Umbria’s eyes looked like molten gold, glowing from within. She caressed the orb set into the top of her staff as Ladybug trapped the Badalisc’s legs in her yoyo, using the mirror to look at it so she wouldn’t be paralyzed, or worse. Who knew what Umbria and the Badalisc were capable of now?

“So much power now…” Umbria murmured. “All the secrets…”

“Give him back!” Ladybug yelled.

Umbria just laughed. “I wouldn’t worry too much, my darling,” she said. “Once his secrets are revealed, he’ll be back. Just in time for me to take his miraculous! I, for one, can’t wait.”

Ladybug let out a breath, still struggling to hold the thrashing Badalisc with her yoyo wire without looking at it. She couldn’t tell whether Umbria was talking to her or to Hawkmoth, but it didn’t look like either of them knew Chat Noir’s secrets. Yet.

“Now, I’m off to find my wretch of a daughter,” Umbria announced, shadows swirling around her as she floated higher above the ground. “My pet will take care of you while I’m gone. Don’t worry, he doesn’t bite… much.”

“Wait!” Ladybug shouted. She wasn’t sure what she was doing, just that she couldn’t let Umbria leave. The more secrets she absorbed, the more powerful she’d be, and the bigger her “pet” would become. “You’ll never find your daughter. I hid her too well,” Ladybug told the supervillain, praying that Lila had the sense to find a good hiding place and to stay hidden. She kept her eyes trained on Umbria, willing herself to not even glance over at the Badalisc. Considering how powerful it had gotten, it might kill her. 

It might...

Was the “badalisc” anything like the basilisk?

Ladybug glanced down at the mirror, clutched in her left hand and trained on the Badalisc, thrashing in the confines of her yoyo wire, before looking back up at Umbria. It was a huge gamble. But what wasn’t? She was Ladybug. This was what she did.

She just hoped it worked. After all, secrets lost their power once they weren’t secret anymore, right? She’d have to do this carefully, though. Make Umbria think she was desperate enough to consider it.

“I propose a trade, Umbria,” Ladybug said carefully, watching the supervillain’s face. “There’s no way you will find Lila without me. I’ll tell you where she is, and you’ll call off the Badalisc and give me Chat Noir back.”

Umbria scowled, gold eyes flashing. “And how do I know you won’t lie to me, just like my daughter?”

“You’ll just have to trust me, I guess.” Ladybug’s arms strained, holding the Badalisc back. She wasn’t sure how much longer this stalemate would last, especially since her time as Ladybug was running out. She had to hurry.

Umbria cocked her head as a light flashed over her face. “My daughter isn’t the only thing I want,” she told Ladybug. “You must give me your secrets. Then I will know that you aren’t lying to me.”

Good, Ladybug thought, but was careful not to let it show on her face. She hesitated, pretending to waver, before saying, “Only if you promise not to take our miraculouses.”

She knew the word of a supervillain meant nothing. Even if Umbria did follow through, Hawkmoth wasn’t the one making the promise. But that wasn’t the point. She just needed the deal to be believable.

Umbria’s lips twisted. “Deal.” She raised her hand, shadows swirling.

“First the Badalisc,” Ladybug gritted.

“If you insist.” A wave of the staff, and the Badalisc seemed to relax. Ladybug retracted her yoyo and attached it to her hip, instead gripping the mirror with both hands. “Now, your secrets, Ladybug.”

The shadows were upon her before she could even think to brace herself.

“Your secrets, Ladybug.” Umbria commanded again.

Ladybug held her breath, hoping against hope that she wasn’t making a huge mistake, and relaxed, relinquishing her secrets. The light around her faded, swirling into the shadows and up into Umbria’s staff until Ladybug was left standing, a little dizzy, and not glowing anymore.

Umbria crowed in triumph, raising her staff above her head. “Now, Ladybug! You will see the true power of secrets!” The shadows around her were swirling dizzyingly. Her eyes were practically glowing with power. There was no way Ladybug could defeat her like this. 

She hoped her plan worked.

Ladybug watched through her mirror as Umbria lowered her staff, pressing the top of it to the hard scales of the Badalisc. It immediately swelled, straightening to stand on its hind legs as light swirled form Umbira, through the staff, and into the Badalisc. Umbria seemed to shrink in on herself, darkening and slowing down.

Ladybug grinned triumphantly. She’d been right. Now that Umbria was no longer in possession of the secrets, she was back to her original akumatized state. A state where Ladybug had a chance of beating her.

The Badalisc shook its head, then said in a strange, hissing sort of voice, _Officer Martin lost the Garnier investigation’s file. Officer-_

“Skip to the important stuff,” Umbria snapped.

The Badalisc hissed, then turned to fix its eyes on Ladybug. _Ladybug has a pl-_

Ladybug screwed her eyes shut and whipped around, holding the mirror out directly in front of her.

Silence fell, then a piercing shriek. Daring to open her eyes, Ladybug saw the Badalisc, now the size of a truck, completely turned to stone.

The light flared around Ladybug again, and she cheered internally. Her secrets were safe.

Umbria, face twisted in anger, raised her hands, but her shadows were sluggish now, dripping towards the ground and creeping towards Ladybug, who easily avoided them, running right towards Umbria. Ladybug grabbed the staff, and before the supervillain could stop her, snapped it in half over her knee. The amuk drifted out, floating gently upwards, but there was no akuma in sight.

Umbria roared and charged toward her. Ladybug didn’t see anything else that could possibly hold the akuma, unless it was in her shirt or something, so she stomped her foot down on the orb of the staff, crushing it under her foot.

The akuma fluttered out. Ladybug cleansed it and the amuk with her yoyo, then hurriedly tossed the mirror into the air and yelled, “Miraculous Ladybug!” She held her breath, not daring to relax while the magical ladybugs swirled around her until they coalesced in front of her and Chat Noir appeared, arms crossed and a small, satisfied smile on his face.

* * *

Chat Noir had no idea how Ladybug had managed to defeat a powerful supervillain and a sentimonster by herself, but he couldn’t say he was at all surprised.

He held up a fist, but Ladybug shoved his hand aside and tackled him in a hug, which he gladly returned. Two Marinette hugs in one day. The world must really be smiling upon him.

“You can’t just do that.” Ladybug said, voice muffled as she squeezed him tight.

“I just did.” Chat responded.

“It’s not funny.”

“Sorry. I hate doing it too, milady. I don’t want to leave you to fight by yourself. But if we have to choose between the two of us…”

“I know,” Ladybug grumbled. “I still hate it.” Her earrings beeped, and she reluctantly let him go. 

They went over to Mrs. Rossi, who was sitting on the ground, clutching her head. Next to her was a pen and its cap, lying forgotten in the road.

“Are you okay, ma’am?” Ladybug asked, crouching next to her. Behind them, Chat Noir could see the vans a few blocks away that were heading toward them, meaning the reporters and medics would be here soon.

“Oh, I… I was akumatized, wasn’t I?” Mrs. Rossi looked over at Ladybug. “Oh, I’m so sorry! I was just so angry… twice in one day for you guys… I feel terrible.”

Ladybug put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay. You have every right to be upset.”

“That’s what we’re here for,” Chat Noir added, handing her the pen.

Mrs. Rossi took it, absently twirling it between her fingers. “Well, thank you both. I don’t know what Paris would do without you.”

Ladybug’s earrings beeped again, and Chat Noir noticed she was down to her last spot. “I’d better go,” she said hurriedly. “I hope you feel better. Bug out!”

Chat Noir turned back to Lila’s mother. “Do you need a ride anywhere?” he asked. “I can get you home, if you like.”

“Thank you, darling, but no. I’ll stay here and wait for Lila.” Mrs. Rossi glanced over at the police station. “We have unfinished business here.”

“I’m sure they’d understand if you wanted to go home,” Chat said.

“No, no, that’s quite alright.”

“Okay, then. I’d better get going,” Chat said, but hesitated. He felt so bad for Mrs. Rossi. It couldn’t be easy to have a daughter like Lila. 

He had absolutely no idea what he could possibly say to make her feel better, though, so he simply gave her a quick salute and left, heading in the direction Ladybug had gone. Based on how much time she’d had left, she hadn’t gone far. And he needed to talk to her.

Sure enough, Chat Noir found Marinette a few streets away, walking with her head bent over, cradling something in her hands. 

“Well, hey there, Princess.” Chat Noir landed next to her.

Marinette jumped and snapped her purse shut, before realizing it was only him and relaxing. “Hey, yourself, kitty.”

Chat took her elbow in one hand, careful not to scratch her with his claws, and they ducked behind an advertisement. One that conveniently had his face on it, because of course it did. “Claws in.”

Plagg yawned loudly, then took the cheese Adrien offered him and phased through Marinette’s purse.

Adrien offered Marinette his arm. “Need someone to walk you home?”

For some reason, Marinette paled and grabbed her phone. “Shoot, shoot, shoot,” she muttered. “I almost forgot.”

Adrien leaned over so he could see Marinette’s screen.

Marinette: Home safe and sound! Alya?  
Nino: disappointed she didn’t get any good footage, but safe.  
Marinette: ok good. See you tomorrow.  
Nino: gn

Marinette looked up and linked her arm through Adrien’s. “Sorry about that,” she apologized, as they started to walk.

Adrien sighed dramatically. “Our friends are terrible. How dare they look out for us.”

Marinette giggled. “Well, now we can be each other’s alibi.”

“Yeah.” 

They walked a few minutes in silence, then Marinette asked quietly. “Did it hurt?”

Adrien waggled his eyebrows at her. “When I fell from heaven?”

Marinette smacked him in the arm, a little harder than he would have thought was necessary. “No! When you…” she trailed off.

“Oh.” Adrien considered. “No, it didn’t. Being knocked around by akumas hurts way worse than dying.”

“Dying?” Marinette squeaked.

“Well, what do you want to call it?”

“Not dying!” Marinette pulled away from him. “You’re not dying when you do that… right?”

“I… don’t know.” Adrien wasn’t sure what he should do. Take Marinette’s arm back? Her hand? Give her a hug? Pat her shoulder? Leave her alone? She didn’t seem upset, per say, but rattled.

He settled on stopping at a deserted street corner, making her turn and look at him. “Paris needs Ladybug,” Adrien reminded her gently.

“But I need you,” Marinette told him.

“Of course you do,” Adrien said. “I’m your knight in shining leather, remember?” He puffed out his chest and flexed his muscles, knowing he probably looked ridiculous but wanting Marinette to smile. 

She did, but covered her mouth to hide it. “Can you be serious for a second?” 

“Okay.”

“It’s just… so crazy that you can jump in front of me like that and take hits without a second thought. That you can protect my secrets so well, even though you had plenty of your own to protect.”

“Well… you’re the Guardian.” Adrien studied Marinette. “That’s why you were glowing so bright, right?”

Marinette shifted ever so slightly closer. “Yeah. You know all the important things already.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, maybe there’s one thing…” Marinette swallowed. “I’ve been in love with you since the day we met.”

Adrien felt a little dizzy from her proximity. “Even though I’m Adrien?”

“Especially because you’re Adrien.”

Adrien dared to bring one hand up and gently run his thumb over Marinette’s cheek. He leaned closer, slow enough that Marinette could push him away if she wanted to. 

She didn’t.

Adrien closed his eyes, then whispered, “I’ve been in love with you since the day we met, too.”

Almost before he’d finished saying it, Marinette surged forward and then her lips were on his, slow and sweet and beautiful and everything Adrien had ever dreamed. Everything else around him vanished and he kissed her back, cupping her face and using his other arm to pull her closer, making their noses bump together softly.

It ended sooner than Adrien would have liked, but he let Marinette pull away and rest her head on his shoulder with a soft him. 

They stayed like that for a minute, then Adrien said, “I’m so glad you’re not, like, mad Chat Noir turned out to be me.”

He could hear Marinette’s smile in her voice as she said fondly, “Not a chance, Sunshine.”

* * *

Only a few eyebrows were raised when Adrien and Marinette announced that they were dating a few days later. Nino was congratulatory, Alya was giddy, and everyone else thought it was either inevitable or hilarious. As the weeks went on, there were a lot of jokes about how they were bad influences on each other, since neither of them could seem to get anywhere on time, but they were happy, and that’s all that mattered.

After a lot of debate amongst the teachers, the authorities, and the Rossi’s, Lila was sent to boarding school in Italy. She tried to contact a few people in her old class a couple of times, but no one responded to her and eventually, she stopped trying. 

Paris was back to normal. Or, at least, as normal as it could be with Hawkmoth terrorizing the town every other day. But they’d get there eventually.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, we’re done! Wow. 
> 
> A HUGE thank you to everyone who stuck with this! Kudos, comments, it all helped so much, whether it was encouragement or constructive feedback. I love you all so much!
> 
> As always, comment and let me know what you think! (Now it’s time to work on those WIPs I’ve been neglecting)


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